The Power in Creation (Under Heavy Revisions)
by boldfullmetal
Summary: A/U : (no sol relay or Prothean ruins on mars) In hopes of exploring strange new worlds and civilizations beyond the Aethon relay, a group of Asari ships chart a course into the unknown black of the exodus cluster. After years of travel they discover radio transmissions from an unknown species and move in to see if they are worthy of being uplifted.
1. Prologue

It had been three years since the crew of Lucen's Compass bid farewell to their loved ones on Thessia. Led by Matriarch Benezia, the beautiful and talented crew set off to explore the unseen space that lay beyond the Aethon Relay. Little did they know they were about to make a discovery that would change the galaxy forever.

"Mother come quick! I think I found something!" blared Benezia's omni tool waking her from her slumber.

_I love Liara's unbridled enthusiasm, but for goddess's sake she needs to learn to tone it down a little. _The matriarch thought Walking to the bridge, hoping her daughter found something more interesting than another supernova remnant. It wasn't that the nebula's of vibrant colored gasses weren't beautiful, but rather that when you get to her age you've pretty much seen it all. With a tap of a few keys the bridge's door opened with a hiss, revealing a sea of purple and blue crests. All of Which excitedly bounced up and down every time the main screen flashed white. Slowly video trickled as patches of gargled syllables began to play. The crowd could barely contain their excitement as the signal stabilized, revealing a statue of some sort of flying creature grasping a plus symbol with right hand ninety degree turns at the tips. Giddy squeals and whistles echoed throughout the room as strange music played over the speakers while the video panned down revealing the text "Triump des willens."

"I wonder what it means!" a crew member called out, only to be met with thunderous shh!'s from everyone.

Another segment of text appeared but this one was accompanied by a numeral that they recognized. "1934! They can count! Their more intelligent than the Krogan!" blurted out a young maiden from the front, initiating a chorus of chuckles. A few of them even attempted to sound out the next patch of text, "De..furrr..de furrer?"

The crew began engaging each other in small talk about what they were witnessing, but the chatter quickly ended as a rumbling beat began to play and the name Adolf Hitler appeared. Causing Liara T'Soni to blurt out "This transmission must be some sort of documentary detailing the life of this A..d..o..l..f H..i..t..l..e..r person"

_she always was the cleverest girl in school_ Benezia Proudly beamed at her daughter, who blushed from her mothers gaze. The video panned from inside a moving vehicle which slowly revealed to them that this new species has mastered flight! "Do you think they're space fairing yet!" another voice in the crowd cried out.

"Assuming this species hasn't fallen prey to some cataclysmic event that outcome is entirely possible. Since I'm not detecting any signs of subspace disturbances we can safely predict that this video is likely their earliest transmission." After doing some quick calculations Liara continued, "doing the math I can confidently say this video's origin is anywhere from one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand light years away." pulling up data from astrometrics, "and this is the only star within that range having planetary bodies….and at maximum speed we can be their within one week."

Upon hearing this news more excited conversations erupted around the room causing the similarly anxious Matriarch to yell out "All right ladies settle down! …I suggest we watch the rest of the video to see what we might discover!" waiting till the maidens became silent before continuing "For all we know this species may already be extinct or as violent as the Krogan." Benezia watched her crew's faces as they contemplated this thought. Then a shy maiden in the rear gently asked "so how do we precede ma'am?"

Watching all the eyes in the room fall on her Benezia confidently replied, "We have the unique opportunity here ladies to observe a new species culture evolve over time as we move closer to their planet. I suggest we take this opportunity to study them in depth before we make contact." Feeling a drive she hadn't felt in centuries she commanded "We will learn their language, history, customs, culture norms, religious beliefs, technical capabilities, and military strength. By the time we arrive at this unknown planet we will know this species better then they know themselves!" her last words boomed over the bridge as she basked in looks of admiration from her crew. "Shall we tell the council?" "I think not, if we tell them now they'll send a fleet to quarantine the planet and possibly exterminate the species…..just…like…the Yahg." Tears welled in her eyes, "Nooo! We must never allow that tragedy to happen again!...If they need guidance we will guide them, if they need punishment we will scold them. We will embrace them tightly and nurture them from our breast as a mother would her child. And when the time is right they will have the strength and resolve to forge their own path in this galaxy!" receiving resounding applause from crew.

For the next five days the Asari watched every glorious achievement and folly mankind had ever made. The watched mortified at the seemingly endless bounds their depravity for one another could reach witnessing the atrocities committed by the Nazi empire. They were overjoyed to witness the resilience of the human spirit and their desire to unite in the pursuit of wiping out evil. They were flabbergasted at how fast they had harnessed the power of the atom, and gazed admiringly as their leaders backed away from planetary nuclear annihilation. Landing on the moon, fighting for civil rights, ending the cold war, to colonizing mars, the Asari watched it all. Knowing their decision had already been made Benezia attached the ships locator beacon to an ftl equipped automated probe, programming it to complete their old mission. As the looked lovingly at the species they had come to love, Benezia opened the channel.

After a 12 hour process of reconfirming that they were in fact alien, the Lucen's compass was given the final go ahead to dock at earth's only orbital structure, Serenity tower. Serenity tower's original purpose was to act as a launch platform for earth's lunar and martian colony. Now it served as the meeting point between their two cultures. Walking through the tower Benezia's crew displayed their elegance and grace crating an aura of regality in the breathless human's watching from afar. Their escort tried their best to clear the way for the diplomats but one boy got through.

Defiantly jumping in front of benezia's path the boy yelled out, "Hey Lady! Did you enjoy the history lesson? That's how you knew where to find us isn't it?" Benezia dismissed their human guards who quickly tried to clear the blue eyed boy from their path. Taking a knee in front of the nine year old she gazed into his deep blue eyes, his powerful gazed revealed he possessed wisdom beyond his years. Placing a delicate hand on his shoulder she replied in a soothing voice, " Yes little one, we did."

"You're old aren't you? Like really old,….and….and powerful…..scary powerful."

"What's your name little one?"

"John, John Shepard."

**_Authors note: because of the resounding positive response, i will now solely focus on this story for the time being. I will also try and shoot for weekly updates, but focusing on my college career comes first. Thanks again for the positive responses everyone! _**


	2. Ten Years Later (finally finished)

**A/N:_ yup i pretty much rewriting my entire intro chapters to this story. the addition of the timeline took up so much space that it became a chapter of it's own. FYI Im planning on adding 2 additional chapters after this one before the real journey begins. I know I'm George Lucasing here a bit but it needed to be done. btw this is set in an alternate universe so please don't rage too hard when things don't go along the cannon. The one and hopefully only major change to the story will be fleet sizes. Lets face it space is very freaking vast and we are really freaking small, and the only fleet size that makes sense in the game is the quarians with 50k ships...enjoy  
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**10 Year Timeline After Contact:**

**_- June 28th 2140, _**one month after contact John Shepard is officially Adopted by Asari Matriarch Benezia T'Soni.

**_- July 4th 2140, _**six months after contact the United Nations building houses the first senate session of the newly formed Systems Alliance government and the standard citadel credit is adopted as it's currency.

**_- August 14th 2140, _**Former U.S. president Anthony Mason is elected as the First Prime minister of the Alliances Parliament

**_-August 2140, _**after months of loving melds and gentle support from Matriarch Benezia and Dr. Liara T'Soni, Johnathan T'Soni Shepard slowly begins to open up about his childhood spent imprisoned as a test subject at an unknown illegal genetic research facility. Although talking has helped, the night terrors and shaking sleepless nights persist as he refuses to show though melds or talk about the nature of his escape.

**_- September 5th 2140, _**Humanities first Eezo reactor begins construction, as well as humanities first prototype FTL capable ship. Officially given the designation NX-01 the engineers and construction crews dub the ship the Enterprise after the famous sci-fi tv program. The name is so loved that the newly formed Alliance Navy keeps the designation, but in press reviews state that the name came from the numerous actual sea and space faring vessels that have carried this name. But that doesn't stop engineers and construction crews from regularly painting or chisel NCC-1701 onto the ships hull and bulkheads.

**_-September 24th 2140,_** Ariake Technology's is formed and large scale production of human made Omni-tools begins.

**_- October 6th 2140, _**The Lucen's Compass's sensors detect modest Eezo deposits in Pluto as well as on it's moons Nix, Hydra, and Charon. News of this discovery creates an explosion of new mining and ship building companies as they race to be the first to stake a claim in the new gold rush.

**_- December 2140, _**Humanities first eezo reactor enters preliminary trials, and The Systems Alliance begins planning the construction of 12 new orbital elevators with one of them on Mars. And as the Asari give humanity more information on biotics, Conatix Industries takes charge in tracking down biotically gifted individuals created by the 2122, 99942 Apophis Asteroid mining incident.

**_-January 2141,_ **as the need to keep Earth's secrecy grows, Senators from the United States of America disclose to Parliament classified information on a mothballed secret military communications program. With heavy assistance from Matriarch Benezia's engineers the Systems Alliance reopens the Quantum Entanglement Communications program and houses the project under Area 51.

**_-February 2141, _**poverty and joblessness reach a historic low of 5.5% across the planet as many closed or abandoned factories are brought back online to meet the demand of the booming manufacturing sector. Also disease and illnesses slowly become eradicated as Benezia staff shares citadel medical technology and equipment. The resulting boom of biotech and bio engineering corporations are eventually consolidated into one to form the Sirta Foundation.

**_- March 2141, _**Highly skilled Agents from an unknown organization sneak into area 51 and transmit the QEC prototype data to an untraceable location. Base computers catch the outgoing signal and security forces are dispatched to intercept the intruders. A firefight breaks out and eventually all the intruders are tracked down and eliminated, before the last one dies his gives the name of his employer, CERBERUS. The Alliance Government writes this attack off as nothing more than corporate espionage, Alliance Military officials however do not, and begin trying to gather information on this well equipped para military organization.

**_- April 1st 2141,_ **humanities first eezo reactor is brought online aboard the NX-01 'Enterprise' and her shakedown trials begin. As she is the first functioning FTL capable ship she cuts the travel time between Earth and Mars from 1.5 years to 9 minuets. As such the NX-01 is tasked with assisting the Lucien's Compass in transporting building materials, supplies, and habitat pods to the Martian Colony. With the two ships working in tandem the Alliance is able to grow the small colony from 25 research personnel to being able to house nearly 250,000 personnel in a matter of weeks. But all of the newly installed complexes remain uninhabited as the Enterprise and Compass can only transport a few dozen people at a time.

**_-June 2141, _**with help of the Asari, Eldfell-Ashland Energy (EAE) successfully tests a new Helium3 fusion reactor prototype which has a 120% higher energy output than current generation hydrogen reactors. The higher output allows for ships to maintain kinetic barrier fields and GUARDIAN laser defense systems. Theses additions greatly reduce the weight of ships as well as increasing their speed and safety as heavy armor plates that protected against high velocity debris impacts are no longer needed, lowering the cost of space travel. The Alliance makes plans to develop a Hellium3 mining facility above Saturn but plans are put on hold until the eezo reactors needed to create the facilities mass effect anchors can be developed.

**_-July 2141,_** In a joint business partnership the corporations Heavy Metals Exomining of China (HMEC), Hoshichiri Heavy Industries, EAE, and Cord-Hislop Aerospace team up and launch a mining fleet attempting to be the first to successfully harvest the eezo deposits in the outer solar system. The Alliance heralds this unprecedented level of cooperation as a resounding reminder of the power of the human spirit.**_  
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**_-August 24th 2141, _**The Alliance Military secretly completes a successful test of the first Quantum Entanglement communicator and production commences.

**_-August 29th 2141, _**Replicated Asari Eeezo sensors equipped to a mining ship detect modest pockets of eezo in the large asteroids Pallas, Vesta, and Hygiea. While not as rich as pluto and her moons, they are significant enough for the Alliance to attempt mining operations. But as the three bodies together contain roughly 18.9% of the mass in the asteroid belt, mining is hazardous as the asteroids masses make them under constant bombardment by smaller bodies that get caught in their gravitational pull. Turning to the Asari for guidance they inform them about how Omega was built. Alliance engineers draw plans for the stations but soon realize that this too is unfeasible as it would require many eezo powered ships to link their mass effect fields together to clear the surrounding space of debris before construction could even begin. With a high casualty risk and little hope for success, all plans are put on hold until eezo from Pluto can make it back to earth.

**_- September 2141,_ **While Matriarch Benezia is greatly pleased with the leaps and bounds humanity has made in such a short time, the lack of a mass relay and easy access to eezo make it abundantly clear that assistance from Thessia will be needed for humanity to safely progress. After a secret meeting With Prime minister Mason the Lucen's Compass departs for Thessia with a skeleton crew and a prototype QEC device stored in its hold. While Benezia is heart broken by the thought of leaving John, she knows he will be taken care of by Liara and the remaining Compass crew, who over the last 20 months have come to view him like a younger brother as they help him train his biotics.

**_- from 2141-2143, _**three of the eleven planned Earth orbital towers are completed as well as the martian tower. The main factor for their rapid completion was thanks to the NX-01's eezo reactor and Loki and Atlas construction mechs running 24/7.

**_January 2143, _**The fleet of mining ships finally reaches pluto and begins extracting and processing the raw eezo ore, transferring it into storage tanks for delivery.

**_March 2143, _**The Martian and Luna colony population reaches 57,000 each allowing them the right to petitioning Parliament for senate seats. Although the population of the colonies is growing, lack of eezo's mass effect fields hinders childbirth.

_**April 5th 2143,**_ While the new Helium3 powered ships are vastly faster then the old hydrogen models, they still reach nowhere's near the speeds the Enterprise can. Ever so slowly the economic boom begins to recline as lack of eezo leaves R&D into more efficient and powerful reactors impossible. To solve this growing problem the Alliance Navy retrofits the Enterprise with auxiliary storage tanks and orders her to grab as much eezo as they can carry back from Pluto to Earth. Furthermore the Alliance dispatches colony and water harvesting ships to Jupiter's ice covered moon Europa to collect the ocean of water below the surface. The plan is to use the outposts water reserves to help terra form mars and act as a watering hole for ships in the barren desert of space.**_  
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**_- May 5th 2143,_** while transferring eezo from her cargo hold the NX-01 is hijacked from dock at London tower by an unknown terrorist organization. Upon entering the upper atmosphere the hijackers detonate the Enterprises eezo reactor, blanketing vast swaths of the planet with half of her 10,000 tonne eezo payload. High altitude wind currents carry eezo dust for tens of thousands of miles.

_-**May 25th 2143,** _A group calling themselves CERBERUS publicly takes responsibility for the attack, stating their intention to further humanity by creating generations of powerful human biotics. As the hunt for the so called Illusive Man begins, search efforts are hindered upon realization that he communicates via QEC. In response to the attack all spaceports and Orbital towers being built or constructed are taken over by the Alliance Navy, who quickly arms them with multiple long range ship to ship Javelin missile batteries, 360 degree cruiser class mass accelerator cannon turrets, and extensive GUARDIAN laser defense systems. Furthermore for added security the Alliance Military deploys multiple contingents of QRF (quick response force) Marines at every spaceport ensuring that any future hijacked ships can be quickly intercepted and destroyed before unfathomable damage can be inflicted. While many civilians do not like the militaristic course being taken by the government they understand the necessity to prevent future attacks.**_  
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**_-May 25th_** _**2143,**_ As Johnathan T'Soni Shepard watches the CERBERUS video play he sees the logo behind the Illusive Mans shadowed body, triggering suppressed memories. Now knowing the name of the organization that mutilated him, the thirteen year old lets himself be consumed by rage and seething hate. Retreating from the world into the T'Soni estate he uses his families wealth to track down anything about CERBERUS. Initially Liara T'Soni helps him, but soon realizes that John isn't interested in justice...but blood. Together they find information on the facility in which John was kept. Traveling deep into the Colorado wilderness they find the overgrown and abandoned remains of CERBERUS's Teltin research facility. Finding nothing of value they head back to their house in New York. After many more months of no leads Shepard's will finally breaks and he enters into a spiral of self loathing and depression. Only with help from Benezia via QEC and loving melds from Liara does the teenager finally come to terms with the demons residing within. For the first time years he has a full nights sleep.

-_**June**** 2143**_, While the destruction of the Enterprise was a crippling blow to the Alliance, the roughly 4,579 tonnes of eezo that was transferred off before the hijacking allows for humanity to building several new eezo reactors, with enough left over for R&D. These new reactors enable many plans to be put back on the table, but the rising demand for Helium3 starship fuel takes priority. To speed up production of the planned mining facility each of humanities now 5 completed orbital towers begin constructing different sections that will be later connected.

-**_July 2143, _**the Mining fleet at Pluto fills the remaining eezo storage tanks and departs with 100,000 tonnes of eezo leaving behind completely mined and mostly eezo empty bodies.

**_- August 2143, _**Matriarch Benezia's ship reaches the Atheon relay in record time by pushing the scout ships eezo reactor into the red. 6 hrs later Benezia is on Thessia apprising a select few matriarchs loyal only to her of Earth. She duplicates the QEC device and installs the copy at the Temple of Athame leaving it under watchful protection of the Justicar order. Benezia and seven of her other matriarchs formulate a plan, using their immense wealth they form a legitimate space exploration company to chart the unknown systems between Irune and Sur'kesh. Using a loan from the ilium exchange they buy a fleet of long range scout ships and two large civilian transports. Filling them up with three thousand loyal followers the fleet sets off for Earth taking multiple different routes back as to not raise suspicion. Once out of range of the citadel comm buoys Benezia activates the original QEC and informs the Alliance government of the incoming people and supplies.

_**-August 2143, **_Earth: receiving news of the incoming resources the Alliance Military begins construction of frigates, cruisers and carriers abandoning dreadnoughts altogether. Although the ships will be stuck in drydock unable to move until eezo reactors get developed, the alliance figures its better to have the ships ready to go rather than wait until the eezo arrives.

_**-September 19th 2143,** _Because of the Navy's focus on carriers rather than Dreadnoughts the need arises for a completely new type of fighter craft. The Alliance Navy holds an open fighter design contest which features many notable big names taking part. But the F-61 Trident from Nashan Stellar Dynamics and Boeing is declared the winner. Its new MK 3 micro Hellium3 fusion reactor gives the ship an immense power to weight ratio. Furthermore the crafts long engine pylons allow for longer 20mm mass accelerator cannon barrels to be installed, greatly increasing the velocity and penetration power of rounds fired. The contest is a landslide victory for the Trident as the Navy fell in love with her folding wings, enabling more craft to be stored aboard the new Essex class carriers being constructed in ship yards around the planet.

**_-Sept 2143-Sept 2145_ **Research into more efficient and powerful eezo reactors begins, culminating in the formation of the Tantalus drive program. Other than that humanity is tasked to capacity, building towers, warships, colonies and preparing for all the new cases of biotically gifted children about to be born. Although only 1 in 10 will manifest biotic talents, the fact that eezo dust from the Enterprise explosion fell on an estimated 4.5 billion people means Earth's next generation of children could have up to 225 million new biotic cases. As such Conatix Industries takes charge and begins manufacturing a stockpile of biotic amps. Furthermore The remaining 100 members of Benezia's crew take up teaching positions to train the human biotics found in Conatix's search, as such the BAat program was developed. The demand for qualified instructors is so high that even the fifteen year old John Shepard accepts a teaching position.

_**-November 5th 2145, **_Under heavy escort from Alliance gunboats and six fighter wings of Tridents, the mining fleet safely drops significant shipments of eezo off at Europa, Mars, Luna, and finally Earth. Using the advancements made in the Tantalus drive program Mars begins excavating a five story tall, 500 ft wide mine shaft meant to house the colonies planned super massive eezo reactor. A similar process is begun below the surface of Luna. When completed in three years the MK-1 Tantalus reactors, in theory, should be able to create a stable mass effect field for 25 square miles. Using the same principles behind the citadels wards, the fields will be used to create a stable habitable biosphere forty five feet tall, allowing for crops, trees, running water, and people to walk around without the use of bulky envirosuits. The Asari on Earth are left speechless as no Citadel species has ever attempted something this complex and the fact that it is being done by a species so young frightens them.

**_-December 25th 2145,_**The Frigates S.S.V Iwo Jima, S.S.V. Trafalgar, and S.S.V Bunker Hill enter service as beginnings of the Alliance Navy's first fleet. Although their drive cores are based on a modified NX-01 variant, the Alliance needs the FTL capable ships to move the completed Hellium3 mining station parts into orbit above Mars.

- **_January 28th 2146,_ **Matriarch Benezia's ship enters the outer sol system and is escorted to Earth by the S.S.V. Iwo Jima.

**_- March 7th 2146,_ **three eezo reactors are brought online aboard the completed horizon mining platform above Mars, and the stations 100 plus crew activate the ion thrusters, beginning the trek to Saturn. Although only one core is needed to maintain the stations position above Saturn, the Alliance decides its better to be safe than sorry.

**_-March 28th 2146, _**Mars: The holding shaft for the colonies Mk-01 Tantalas drive core is completed and construction begins on the 350ft diameter spherical reactor housing.

-_**April 2146,**_The Essex class carriers S.S.V Hornet, S.S.V Lexington, S.S.V. Yorktown, and S.S.V. Enterprise enter service. Their combined fighter and bomber wings total 640 strike craft.

-**_May 2146, _**the heavy cruisers S.S.V Cario, S.S.V. London, S.S.V. Shanghai, S.S.V Tokyo, and S.S.V Budapest enter service. As well as the ammunition resupply ships S.S.V Pyro, S.S.V Nitro, and the hospital ship S.S.V Mercy.

_**-June 6th 2146,** _The frigates S.S.V Hastings, S.S.V Leipzig, and S.S.V Ain Julut enter service. Additionally the class leader of the new Normandy class frigates, the S.S.V Normandy, is pressed into completion in time to commemorate the 202 anniversary of the Normandy beach landings. Additionally the frigates Utah, Omaha, Juno, Gold, and Sword begin construction. When Alliance senators around the world complain about the naming rights for ships, representatives from the United states flatly reply "When _you_ build the ships _you_ get to name em"

-_**July 4th 2146, **_For the first time all 16 Alliance Warships embark in formation on a tour around the solar system to commemorate the six year anniversary of the birth of the Alliance.

-_**September 2146,** _Athame University begins construction on Mars as the colonies population reaches 230,000.

-**_October_ _2146_,** after delays due to supply shortages the final seven orbital towers are completed.

-_**November** **2146,**_ Mining operations begin on the eezo rich asteroids Pallas, Vesta, and Hygiea.

_**- February 7th 2147, **_The super massive MK-01 Tantalas eezo reactor comes online. After a few burps the gravity of the surrounding 10 sq miles is slowly brought to 1.2 G's over the course of three weeks. 12hrs later the first colonist steps outside without an enviro suit and breathes. While the maximum reach of the core is assessed to be 21 square miles, falling short of the theorized 25, the 230,000 colonists are just happy that the damn thing works.

**_-June 26th 2147,_ **As the Alliance Military expands, the Hahne-Kedar corporation is selected to be the primary manufacture of stock weapons and armor for all alliance soldiers. Also a special division of the company is formed, titled "Shadow Works", this division is where the best and brightest are told to "think outside the box"

-_**July 6th 2147,** _Two Asari long range civilian transports arrive and are escorted to Mars tower by the heavy cruisers Cairo and Tokyo. Once docked the 5,000 scientists, engineers, doctors, and 1 Justicar disembark. When Matriarch Benezia is asked by the Alliance how this wont attract unwanted attention towards Earth, she tells them that the ships automated transponders, flight recorders, and piles of debris were left in an asteroid field between the widow relay and Apien Crest. The planted data recorders and flight logs will indicate that while mid jump the "shar'kal"suffered a reactor breach and exploded, and sensor logs on the "Dea Caeruleis" registerd heavy debris impacts causing it's shields to fail, culminating in the hull being ripped apart by extreme tidal forces found in an active conduit. Although all modern ships have safety systems in place to prevent collisions, the fact that "shar'kal" is an obsolete DD2 model sells the lie as the model is known to suffer frequent reactor problems, which led to their discontinuation. Since the jump conduit measures some thousands of light years, any attempts at salvaging remains will be impossible as their is no way to determine where the rest of the debris exited.

**_-July 2147, _**The immense wealth of knowledge brought by the Asari aboard the Shar'kal and Dea Caeruleis cause the formation of the corporations Jormangund Tech, Rosenkov Materials, Devlon Industries, Kassa Fabrication, Ayakashi-Goto Tech, Haribon Military Industries, MarsGene, New Dawn Pharmaceuticals, and Aldrin Labs.

**_-July _**_**2147**,_ The T'Soni family moves to Mars in attempts to quell rising fears over the safety of the colonies 'safe' zone. It works and as more and more people emigrate, the MK-01's gravity field is expanded to accommodate the increasing demand for land. Furthermore the Alliance moves the Ascension program to Mars as it is the home of the majority of Asari in the SOL system. Ayakashi-Goto Tech begins preliminary research on the feasibility of stealth systems for Alliance warships.

_**-July 18th **_**2147,** Jormangund technology begins research into disruptor torpedoes. Aldrin Labs opens on Luna, and the first child of an Asari Human pairing is born. The bouncing baby girl weighs 7lbs 5 ounces. No one finds the fathers jokes about 'not knowing what sex the child would be' funny.

**_-September_ _2147,_** With roughly 45% of eezo in Sol already mined and 35% of heavy metals in the asteroid belt used, Alliance engineers contemplate building a miniature mass relay. Although it would only be able to jump ships a few dozen light years at most, a new source of resources must be found if humanity is to continue expansion without heavy assistance from Thessia. But the Asari immediately squashed any ideas of this citing numerous reasons, most notably that if the device's core were to implode the resulting explosion would be equivalent to a star going nova. The Asari's decision sparks a subtle wave of xenophobia among humans that many extremist groups capitalize on.

**_-October 23rd 2147,_ **Athame University officially opens. As it is the finest education institution in the Sol system many of the students are the sons and daughters of Alliance politicians, wealthy CEO's, celebrities, and high ranking military commanders. The 895 acre campus houses the Alliance military's R.O.T.C and Interplanetary Combatives Academy "N2-N5", the Ascension program, and many top research facilities.

**_-December 8th 2147, _**John T'Soni Shepard celebrates his seventeenth birthday with Matriarch Benezia, Matriarch Lidanya, Huntress/instructor Aeian T'Goni, Liara T'Soni, Dr. Alestia Lallis, Dr. Rana Thanoptis, Ashley Williams and Kasumi Goto. With prodding from his mother to "socialize more with humans" Shepard reluctantly adds his top biotic students Miranda Lawson, Jacqueline Nought, Jacob Taylor, and Kaidan Alenko to the guest list.

**_-January 1st 2148,_**The alliance Navy begins sending it's ships on long range scout missions. While the frigates and cruisers are deployed, the carriers, stay behind to protect the system.

-_**February 2148,**_ The Normandy class frigates S.S.V Utah, S.S.V Omaha, S.S.V Juno, S.S.V Gold, and S.S.V Sword enter service. while the Utah, Omaha, and Sword join the search for a relay, the Gold and Juno stay behind to act as training ships.

**_-April_ _2148_,** Relenting to the Asari's continuous pressure, the Alliance Navy reluctantly begins construction on the hulls of three Dreadnoughts, the S.S.V Missouri, S.S.V Hood, and S.S.V Bismarck. With constant supply from mining ships in the asteroid belt the Alliance expects completion of all three ships in five years.

_**- July 2148, ** _The Mk-01 Tantalas drive core on Luna is brought online. The moons 245,000 inhabitants slowly adjust back to living under higher gravity conditions, and plans are made to drill out habitats underneath the moons surface.

_**- September** **2148,** _ Jormangund technology successfully test fires a disruptor torpedo on a 436m asteroid. The warheads function as designed creating a series of random and unstable mass effect fields warping space-time in a localized area. The rapid asymmetrical mass changes cause the target to rip itself apart. Greatly pleased with the results and the torpedoes 21'' diameter width, the Alliance mandates their installation on every frigate, cruiser, and that a specialized version be designed for use on fighter craft.

_**- October 2148, **_Continuous advancements made in the Tantalas drive core program yields the creation of the highly efficient Mk-02. The Mk-02 is small enough that it can be snugly fit on Heavy cruisers, Carriers, and Dreadnoughts. however the core is still to large for deployment on Frigates. The Mk-02 is 30% more powerful and 50% more efficient than the modified NX-01's currently in service, as well as easier to produce. For the first time since their launch the Carriers Yorktown, Hornet, Lexington, and Enterprise return to drydock to get retrofitted with new cores and electronics. Not wanting to waste the 12 (3 each) modified 50ft diameter NX-01 cores of the carriers, a new class of ship is designed, the destroyer.

_**- December**_** 2148,** Construction on the 12 Fletcher class destroyers begins. Much like their World War II originator they are fast, nimble, and deadly. They carry significant amounts of GUARDIAN laser banks, 15 internally mounted re-loadable 21'' disruptor torpedo tubes (3 bow, 2 aft, 4 port, 4 starboard), as well as 8 127mm dual barrel accelerator cannon turrets (4 top 4 bottom) running the length of the ship. While the modified 40ft (instead of 50) barrels limit the rounds effective range and damage, they get the trade off of fire rate. As the gunners do not have to wait long for the guns capacitors to build up another charge. Furthermore the use of the overcharged NX-01 core grants the compact 300 foot long 50 foot wide craft to be mounted with larger, faster engines and more powerful kinetic barriers, which in theory should allow them to survive prolonged combat at "knife fight" ranges with a ship three times their class size. Additionally the destroyers small size enables them to operate in atmosphere allowing ground troops to call in targets for the ships gunners to eliminate.

_**-January 1st-May 24th 2148**,_ The destroyers S.S.V Fletcher, S.S.V Fisk, S.S.V Defiant, S.S.V Farragut, S.S.V Gillespie, S.S.V Dewy, S.S.V Halsey, S.S.V Shaw, S.S.V John Paul Jones, S.S.V Davy , S.S.V Turner, and S.S.V Rodgers enter service. As the relative tiny hulls and max crew of 30, the Fletcher classes are some of the easiest ships to produce. Because of their tiny crew and fast speed they are perfect for long range deployments searching for relays.

-_**August**_** 2148,** 1,000,000 humans now live on other planets in the Sol system, as well as 6,000 Asari.

-**_January 1st__ 2149,_** On top of being an Ascension instructor, John T'Soni Shepard starts his college student life at Athame University.

-**_February 2149,_ **the retrofit on the carriers Yorktown, Hornet, Lexington, and Enterprise are completed and the ships reenter service as the heavy cruisers S.S.V Cario, S.S.V. London, S.S.V. Shanghai, S.S.V Tokyo, and S.S.V Budapest enter the shipyards for retrofit. Their 10 NX-01 drive cores are transferred to shipyards around the planet as more Fletchers begin construction.

-_**March-Septeber 2149,**_The Destroyers S.S.V Walker, S.S.V Thatcher, S.S.V Kennedy, S.S.V Kane, S.S.V Johnston, S.S.V Lawrence, S.S.V Hancock, S.S.V Hamilton, S.S.V Parker, and S.S.V Maddox enter service, bringing humanities Military fleet total to 41 combat vessels.

-_**December 2149, **_The heavy cruisers S.S.V Cario, S.S.V. London, S.S.V. Shanghai, S.S.V Tokyo, and S.S.V Budapest re-enter service.

_**-**__**January **__**1st 2150,**_ Classes begin at Athame university and the story begins...


	3. Awakening

a/n: school has started back up and lets just say that when taking upper division courses that it doesn't just rain extra classwork...it pours. seriously. On top of this I'm learning a new language and lets just say that it tires you the fuck out mentally. so ya...expect sporadic updates until i get back into the groove of college life.

also these amazing stories and authors keep pulling me away from writing.

_And the meek shall inherit the galaxy,_ by Full-Paragon

_Conspiracy & _ _For the_ _Hierarchy,_ by tuffet37

_The stars are loud tonight,_ by cmdevil131

_Glacial fire, _by owelpost

_Solid fluidity,_ by Barbex

_The lost ones_, by Americanhind

_Echoes in the plains,_ by the sneaky fox

_Mass effect: Pieces_, by chemiclord

_marked effect,_ by unrealuniverse

_New dreams imagined,_ by ellwyndara

and pretty much anything by Cobalt AC

all of these stories have been immensely helpful in learning how to create a compelling story. If your name isn't on the list don't feel bad, they're only so few hours in the day and so many interesting stories to read.

btw: except for location info,** Bold** indicates **thoughts**

**DON'T READ IF YOU'RE SQUEAMISH, LOTS OF VILE CONTENT AHEAD!  
**

**I DO "NOT" UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES CONDONE ANY OF THE ACTIONS I AM DESCRIBING IN THIS CHAPTER. ANY SCENES DESCRIBED ARE PURELY A WORK OF FICTION BY THE AUTHOR WHO DEPLORES ANY ACTS OF BRUTALITY AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN. THE AUTHOR PERSONALLY BELIEVES THAT ANY OF THE PIECES OF FILTH WHO PERPETRATE SUCH HIDEOUS ACTS DESERVE TO DIE IN THE MOST PAINFUL WAY POSSIBLE.**

** I HOPE I CAN NOT BE CLEARER, I DO NOT SUPPORT RAPE, PHYSICAL/PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE OR CHILD MOLESTATION.  
**

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**YOU'VE BEEN WARNED! **

* * *

**December 31st 2150**

**Location: Athame University, Staff Housing, Terra formed Mars**

**Colony Population: 445,573 humans, 6,890 Asari, & 1 Justicar**

**21:15**

Shepard groaned loudly as he aimlessly tossed another completed data pad on to his desk. Not wanting to look upon the magically never ending stack of paper work he leaned into his chair and stared at the ceiling.

**"Why did I ever agree to take this job?" **lazily thought the biotic as he counted the number of small grey tiles above him for the thousandth time.

Sure being the only human biotics instructor in the Alliances Ascension program had its perks, 125k a year salary, free house in Athame's Curiosity district (named after the famed NASA rover), and unrestricted access to the University resources. But none of it eased the endless stress that comes from teaching impetuous, uppity, disrespectful teenagers how to use their biotics without accidentally killing themselves, or others. At times John felt more like a nuclear bomb technician than an actual teacher. And although he had never lost a student...there had been numerous close calls.

Glancing at the chrono on the wall he sighed. **"Fuck it, this shit can wait till tomorrow." **picking up his jacket and walking out of his office he locked locked the door behind him and started down the corridor quickly reaching the reception desk.

"Goodnight Victoria, see you tomorrow."

"Oh!.. uh, goodnight Professor T'Soni" befuddley replied the distracted human student

Judging from the subtle glances at the clock John probed "Someplace you'd rather be?"

"It's that obvious huh?...I don't know if you know, but there's suppose to be this super amazing party at the Rowdy Red Rover tonight and I'm hoping that if I hurry home after my shift I at least be able get inside before the party ends." said Victoria, continuing to count the seconds pass.

"Oh believe me, _E-V-E-R-Y,_ professor on this campus knows about that party, its the bane of many of our existences. In other classes its fine if you show up hungover or intoxicated cause you don't accidentally blow shit up. Here though, if someone fucks up they're likely to end up as a puddle of something on a wall. That is of course until they learn the basics, then they could show up high for all I care."

"why?... I mean that's kinda a weird way to talk about your students."

"Because by then a few lemmings have done something stupid and died off, teaching the others to realize the raw destructive power in their bodies." John states without remorse. "huhhh anyway, from what I recall the party starts at around twenty two hundred. What time do you get off?"

"at twenty four hundred" Victoria says dejectedly

"Well that won't do." apathetically states Shepard, "By then you'll have no chance of getting in. Why don't you head out now and I'll cover the desk till your replacement gets here."

"What!? I can't possibly do that... I mean I can't...can I?" asks Victoria almost pleading

Going behind the counter John pulls out her chair, "Go on, get outta here. Go be young and have fun." seeing a shadow of doubt flicker across her face he adds "I mean this entire wing is for the biotics department only and I'm currently the only instructor in the building. Also the semester hasn't even started yet so it's highly unlikely that someone is gonna show up for office hours. Here take this as well." Digging an empty credit chit out of his jacket pocket Shepard activates his Omni-tool and transfers 1000 credits to the device, filling its factory set limit, and places it in Victoria's hand.

"Whoa! whoa! whoa! Hold on!...I can't accept this, you're already helping me out by covering my shift...I...I...I just can't." stuttered Victoria. from her expression Shepard can tell that the brunet is trying to figure out if she is dreaming.

Placing one arm on Victoria's shoulder and one on the chit in her hand Shepard closes her fingers around it, "Please, it's really not that big of a deal, with all the royalties my family gets from the vids, and financial holdings I got, I'll make that back in a few hours. Use some of it to get you and your friends past the doorman and whats left you can either keep for yourself or use for drinks. Just remember that classes start tomorrow, so don't party too much."

Jumping from her chair Victoria throws her arms around Shepard's neck and hugs him tight. Her ample breasts press against his chest as she places a kiss on his cheek as a stream of thank you's fall from her lips. Releasing him from she hurriedly collects her things and darts out the door, blowing him one final kiss before running out of sight.

**"Well Fuck!, What the hell am I going to do for the next two hours?"** thought the human as he paced around the U shaped floor plan looking at all the name plates on the doors.

**"Go through my co workers desks for dirty laundry?"** Contemplated John while he peering through an office window.

**"Yes Professor that seems like a great idea, lets just pilfer though the desks of Asari Spec-ops Commandos... I'm sure there's no fathomable way that brilliant devised plan could ever blow up in your face." **

**"Uh.. ya...scratch that, maybe** **act like an adult and finish up the Everest sized pile of pads on my desk?"  
**

**"Fuck that, if I see another requisition order tonight I might actually kill someone." **Mused Shepard as he looked into his office.

**"Order a pizza and have a sit down?"**

"You know what brain that's actually a pretty good idea!" John said aloud as he activated his Omni-tool and placed his order for a large pepperoni pizza and a 2 liter bottleof soda. "Ok it should be here in 30 minuets, now what?"

**"Well that leaves the two M's Meditation or Masturbation, and at the rate your talking to yourself, I think a little self reflection time might be good for you."**

**"...agreed"**

Walking back to his office John collected a large throw pillow from his couch and a decent sized oak box from one of the many shelves that lined the walls. Returning to the main lobby he knelt down on the pillow and set the wooden box next to it, flipping the latches open John retrieved several polished black stones and a vanilla scented candle. Placing the candle in the built in holder on the case he arranged the stones in front of him. Standing up to take off his leather jacket and black shirt he places them on the counter And resumes sitting in the Asari equivalent of a lotus pose. Lighting the candle last, he begins.**  
**

Closing his eyes John lets the aroma of the candle waft over him as he slows his breathing. In, and out, In, and out... Using the meditation techniques taught to him by Justicar Phora, John quickly found his center. Digging deep within himself he felt the strands that represented the core of his biotic power pulse, mentally grasping a hold of them he pulled, causing his biotic's to flared to life. Opening his now glowing white eyes he felt the dark energy evaporate off of his body like steam as beads of sweat formed and rolled down his muscular body.

Taking another deep breath John exerted his inhuman mental prowess to slowly pull the individual wafts of energy around his body down into the space between his upwards facing hands. Rotating his palms to face each other he forced the two small balls of dark energy to coalesce into one. When finished John looked down upon the small golf ball sized glowing blue orb which represented all of his biotic power and sighed.

This was all that remained. Cerberus scientists at Teltin had stolen the rest through continuous organ harvesting, extensive bone marrow extractions, and blood tests. Of course they replaced the taken organs with identical cloned copies as they didn't want their favorite lab rat to die. But too little to late did they realize that once the eezo was gone from the body there was no known way to replace it. By then however they had found a slew of new toys to play with and Shepard's body was relegated to forced genetic testing.

Hearing a knock at the door Shepard pulls the dark energy back into his body and opens it.

"Hi there!...That'll be 20 credits." says a ridiculously dressed delivery boy.

Paying the man John sets the food down on the counter and takes a swig of the cold 2 liter soda. Opening the box he pulls out a rather stringy piece of pizza and places the scrumptious treat into his mouth, savoring it's flavor. Although all the ingredients are replicated as real wheat and meat are insanely expensive on mars, the taste is still passable and he quickly wolf's down half of the 16'' pie. Finishing up John resumes his meditations in the hopes that it will make the time fly.

* * *

_"Any change in activity?"_

"None, the target is still at his office eating a pizza. You want me to take him out before his cholesterol does my work for me?" *click*clack*

_"Very funny Seven, But you know the Illusive Mans orders. We are to maintain over-watch on hummingbird and only intervene if his life is in danger."_

"Man you're no fun. By the way, has anyone figured out why the Illusive man so interested in the Matriarch's pet in the first place?"

_"Above our pay-grade Seven, check back in three hours."_

"Ughh, roger that."

Readjusting her scope, Seven trains her rifles cross-hairs upon Shepard's head and wonders if the boy even knows she holds his life in her hands. Seeing no immediate threat the platinum blonde leaves her rifle and grabs a cold beer from the rooms mini fridge. Plopping down onto the couch lining the wall Seven lovingly sips her beverage. Bringing up her wrist Seven activates her Omni-tool and begins to check the live feeds from the hidden cameras her team painstakingly placed around Shepard's home and office. Tapping out a few commands she causes one of the cameras in the lobby to zoom in on Shepard's half naked meditating body.

**"He's not that bad looking... " **muses the sniper while her eyes survey his ripped core with a predatory gaze.

The tripping of a motion alarm pulls Sevens attention away from her prey. Opening up a new window in her Omni, she watches a violet Asari Maiden walks with a purpose towards Ascension's office building. From facial recognition software the Maiden is revealed to be instructor Lilyna T'Gori. Deactivating the alarms Seven reactivates her previous feed.

**"This outta be good"**

* * *

*shoooompt*(supposed to be a door opening)

"By the goddess!" yelps an Asari as data pads in her hands drop to the floor with a clatter.

Pulling the dark energy back into his body once again Shepard looks up to see the stunned face of the Ascension Programs newest instructor, Lilyna T'Gori, starring back at him. Deciding to be cordial he asks in a calm tone "Hello professor T'Gori, is everything alright?" while moving to help her pick up the scattered pads.

"Um...ah...yes professor T'Soni I'm quite alright, you just startled me is all. It's just I wasn't expecting to run into another Instructor so late at night."

Handing over a pad John tries to hide his exhaustion, "Ya I guess you could say I was burning the midnight oil."

"Midnight oil, Professor?" The human idiom clearly lost on the Maiden

Sighing John rubbed his temples as he began to explain, "It's an old human expression meaning to work late into the night. You see before humanity discovered electric lighting or light bulbs we used to use whale oil or petroleum in lanterns to give us light during the night. If I really wanted to confuse you I could of said I was burning the candle at both ends." Seeing her face change from interest to understanding and then to utter confusion John just sighs again and waves her off, "Never mind... So what brings you here at this ungodly hour?"

"Oh you know Professor, just the usual pre-term jitters." cheerfully replied Lilyna, obviously glad for the brief lesson in humanity to be over.

Throwing his clothes back on for decency John collected his meditation supplies and started heading back to his office.

"Well just don't work too late, we've got a big day tomorrow." Nodding to the Pizza box on the counter, "If you get hungry feel free to help yourself to some Pizza, might need to be reheated though."

Opening the box and inspecting its contents she replied "Thank you for the kind offer professor, but I already ate."

"Suit yourself, if you need anything I'll be in my office till twelve."

"So late?"

"Ya, I gave the receptionist Victoria the rest of the night off so she could go to a party with her friends." calls out John as he walks down the hall to his corner office.

"My, how thoughtful of you." cooed Lilyna as she fallowed him, her office being only a few doors away.

Entering his office Shepard quickly places the oak box back onto the self from which it came and retrieves a glass from the liquor cabinet alongside the shelves. In doing so he notices the presence of an Asari shaped shadow casting itself from the doorway. Casually tossing two ice cubes into the glass John motions for her to come in and take a seat.

"Care to join me for a drink Professor?"

**"John what are you doing? Don't you remember rule # 13? _Never date a__ coworker"_ **

Seeing her nod, John pushed this thought from his mind as he plucks out another glass from the case. Placing them both on his desk John retrieves an unopened bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy. Cracking the seal he fills both glasses with about three fingers worth of the amber brown liqueur and takes a seat on the opposite end of the black couch.

"Should I even ask why you have that here Mr.T'Soni?" playfully inquired Lilyna

"Everyone has their vices, and please just call me Shepard." replied John as he tried to conjure up as much charm as possible while handing her a glass

Taking the glass from his hand Lilyna's soft gentle fingers brush against his. When they touched John noticed a slight fluster in her cheeks as the maidens beautiful face turned a darker shade of purple. Reclining back, John knew he had the innocent nubile maiden right where he wanted her, all that he had to do now was find a weak spot and push. For the next hour or so Shepard and Lilyna drank and conversed, giving the brandy ample time to work it's magic.

"So tell me Lily, what really brought you to our little secret corner of the galaxy?" he mischievously asked, grabbing the now half empty bottle of brandy and topping off her glass.

"Lily?" asked the maiden while accepting the refill.

**"Asari are truly adorable when confused." **mentally mused Shepard,"Shortening names is just something we humans do, Johnathan becomes John, Robert becomes Bob, Richard becomes Dick, don't ask me why. So Lilyna becomes lily, hope you don't mind?"

"mmm Lily... it does have a rather nice ring to it...O.K. I guess you could call me that... _Shep."_

"That's the spirit!" John cheerfully replied, clinking his glass into hers. "Now back to the question."

"Well its not every day you meet a new species Shep," chimed Lily,"Especially one that is so..._Attractive_."

"Oh?... pray tell, what about humanity do you find so attractive?" whispered John in a low tones as he subtly moved his body closer to hers.

Laying her hand on his arm Lily delicately rolled up his sleeve to sensually stroke the skin below. "There's this for starters...Your skin is unlike any other species in the galaxy, it's smooth and soft unlike that of a Turian's or Salarian's."

Taking her hand in his John raises it to his mouth to plants a gentle kiss on the delicate purplish flesh, "Anything else? or is it just our skin." he purred

Cupping his cheek Lily traveled her hand along his stubbled chin until she reached his semi long, slicked jet black hair, slightly weaving her fingers through the strands she caressed his scalp, "Oh their is much much more, but now I believe it's your turn to do me."

"Coming right up." whispered John, the double meaning in Lily's last words not lost on him at all.

**"Why the hell is this playing out like some some cheesy teen romance soap opera?"** Thought Shepard as he starred into Lily's royal blue eyes only to lose himself in their seemingly endless dark abyss. **"Fuck it, it's time to kick whatever 'this' is into overdrive."**

Leaning in to close John was now cheek to cheek with Lily. Parting his lips John exhaled a few short hot breaths to stimulate the sensitive skin folds around her ear. Extending his dexterous red tongue he tantalizingly messaged and occasionally nibbled lily's silken like folds, evoking wanton moans from the maiden. Stopping his ministrations he presses his lips close to her ear.

"I love the way your bodies taste when I'm relentlessly fucking your dripping warm cunts, making you... scream...my... name like common Omegan whores."

Moving away John lets the information sink in, fully enjoying Lily's now dark purple and dumbfounded face as a full spectrum of emotions raced across. Despite however John "seduced" any of his partners into dancing the beast with two backs tango, Shepard wasn't a rapist. If he felt any semblance of resistance or heard "STOP!" from his partners at any time he would stop immediately.

Being a homeless youth, Shepard was all too familiar with the psychological trauma associated with rape, as he too had been the victim of countless perverts looking for a wet young hole to forcibly stuff their rancid cocks into. But John was a survivor, and naturally after catching on to what his attackers wanted, John began begging his rapists with lines like _"Yesss! Fuck my tight ass hole HARDER Daddy, Ive been a bad boy!... or...Please PaPa I need to feel your hot cum inside me!" _always ending a session with a perfectly innocent smile while childishly giggling _"__Did I make you proud Daddy?" _But no matter how much Shepard wanted to fillet them alive with his mind, he knew he had to bide his time and wait.

A devils mask and god like patience, those were the greatest gifts John received from Cerberus researchers at Teltin. It only costed him his soul.

And as Shepard had calculated the false demons started treating him better, and soon they were all eating out of his child size palm. This was all thanks largely to John sending minuscule amounts of biotic energy to their brains pleasure centers every time they thrust inside him. It would have been so easy to end one of them right there and escape, but no, a quick death was too good for them. John wanted all to be present when he struck. Using his tricks John was able to get them to rent an apartment for him to live in. In return he passionately entertained all twelve of them at once as a reward.

Together the adults formed their own little gang-rape clubhouse in the slums of London. But Shepard was so good at controlling his marionettes that he was able to put a stop to them chasing or abducting other boys and girls to play with. Of course this meant they fucked him more often but John didn't care as he knew he was saving countless lives from their infected grasps. They cared for him if he was ill,which was rare due to his genetic upgrades, they fed him, clothed him, bathed him, and educated him. Of course John had to thank them with his body each and every day. It was only months later that they realized their mistake. The strings were cut and the now fully nourished and recharged biotic took off his docile mask and showed them what real evil looked like.

The news media reported the slaughter as an unfathomable horror show. Bodies ripped in half. Entrails draped across the halls like party streamers. Claw marks on the walls and floor, ten severed heads lined up neatly on the bed overlooking the only two fully intact corpses. Both bodies suspended on either side of the bed frame by hooks, back flesh splayed out to drape around the shoulders in the form of angel wings. Running from mouth to mouth and ass to ass of the bodies was a single continuous length of human intestine. What remained of the other 10 bodies skin was draped over the bed posts to act as a canopy held up by the "victims" pearly white bones. A prayer in Latin asking for forgiveness from St. Maria Goretti smeared onto the wall in blood. Topping everything off was a flawless white outline in the blood soaked bed sheet's the size of a child no more than 7 or 8 years old. All in all the crime scene stumped investigators and medical examiners for years as it was determined that their was no possible way any tool of man could do what they saw.

* * *

"HEY BOYSCOUT! WAKE THE FUCK UP!"

*SMACK!*

"Jack I told you that wouldn..."

"JACK...WHY THE FUCK DID YOU HIT ME WITH A WRENCH!? scornfully yelled John

"See! What did I tell ya Liara, ole Johnny boy here is like a tractor, sometimes you just gotta give em a good whack to get em running." pridefully remarked the tattooed former convict as she loomed over Shepard's slouched body.

Goddess John you're bleeding! Jack why the hell did you hit him with a wrench!" cries Liara.

Shepard barely see's his sister disappear only to return moment's later with a bandage and a small packet of medi-gel.

Grabbing the bandage Shepard groans "Well sis... You might as well call Nezzy and Phora... tell em it's begun."

* * *

_**A/N...okay everyone who feels like they need to go watch 6 hours of cute cat videos. also sorry for the cliffhanger. time for me to decompress as i know a lot of you will have questions.**_

_**First i would like to address that yes. this fic is still going to be a first contact story. but I also want to see what would happen if subject's zero life was lived by Shepard. Cause although its only told and not shown in the games, Jacks backstory is a really... really... fucking dark!**__** also i really don't want to write 60 chapters of pure hate fucking, and gore so ya. I'm experimenting with it right now, hopefully I will find the right balance between paragon & renegade**_

_**as always i more than gladly welcome any comments and constructive criticism as this is my first attempt at creative writing. if you want the chapters to come out on a more timely manner, help me! help me with pointing out places that need work, tell me whats good, whats bad, and whats so-so. i can't improve the story or my writing if i don't get feedback. also if you have anything you would like to see included into the story, let me know and ill see if i can work it in.**_


	4. Lithium

**_A/N: ok last chapter was really dark. and this chapter was originally suppose to be an addition to the last one, but it kinda took on a life on its own, hope you enjoy. Also don't worry, I'll be toning down the darkness so it doesn't feel like you wanna cut yourself. _**

* * *

**January 1st 2151**

**Athame University Staff Housing**

**0300 zulu**

"Jacqueline... Why!" yelled Shepard, wiping away a small crimson trickle of blood from his to grasp at the gash in his head "Wait...better question, Why the hell am I here?"

"You tell me stud muffin." cheekily scoffed Jack as she moved out of the way allowing Liara to pass by her with a med kit. Receiving a menacing glare that was filled more with fear than anger she dropped the attitude, "Johnny, all I know is that two hours ago you were dropped off by an extremely blissful maiden, and you've been stuck in trance like state since then. If you want to know more you're gonna half to talk or do that freaky meld shi...thing with little blue here."

Closing his eyes John felt the cool sting of antiseptic and the pounding in his head recede as his adoptive sister dabbed a small amount of medi-gel onto his wound.

"Was...was she al...alright?" shakily stuttered John as Liara placed a white bandage on his forehead. "I mean she wasn't injured?..Or"

Cupping John's cheek and looking into his fearful blue eyes Liara calmly cut him off, "No brother, Lylyna was quite alright, you didn't harm her." Seeing his expression change from fear to relief and back to fear she added "And she didn't see anything."

Indescribable relief flooded John's features as he leaned into his sisters hand. Closing his eyes again he calmed his rattled nerves. Upon opening them up the fearful trepidation was gone from his body, replaced with an usually cold facade. Standing up John motioned to slip away but was pulled back by Liara

"No!..Don't walk away John we need to discuss something!" cried Liara

"Let. Me. Go." Threateningly seethed John from behind clenched teeth as he forcefully yanked his shoulder from Liara's grasp. His voice filled with hate and contempt, more directed towards himself than anyone else.

Seeing a frightening side of Shepard she didn't know existed, Jack flared her biotics and stepped in front of John. Placing her hand on his chest she released a gentle push, momentarily arresting his forward momentum, "What the hell is wrong with you Boyscout!? I know I overreacted with the wrench and all but..."

Grabbing Jack's wrist and painfully twisting it John's own biotics crackled as he brought her tattooed, half shaven head closer to his. "Don't involve yourself in matters that don't concern you." vehemently whispered John.

Releasing her hand Jack quickly moved out of his way, taking a seat beside the stunned Liara to watch as a man she had never seen before marched upstairs. Reaching his room John slammed the door so hard that the furniture around them rattled, as if they themselves were quaking in fear.

Clutching her tender wrist Jacqueline turned to stare at a teary eyed Liara. Moments passed in silence before Jack finally had the courage to ask, "What the hell is the matter with him?"

Wiping a tear from her eye Liara collected the med kit and headed into the kitchen. Stopping in the doorway with her back to the living room she somberly spoke,"I'm sorry Jack... it's not my place to tell, If you'll excuse me, I have some phone calls to make."

**00000**

Slamming the door to his room John collapsed onto his bed and cried, burying his face into a pillow he screamed. He screamed till his voice gave out, and then screamed some more, releasing all of the pain he felt in his heart. Pain from hurting the people he held most dear, Pain from memories he no longer wanted, and Pain from a life he thought he had left behind. As his tears soaked the fabric John weakly crawled underneath his comforter, not caring about cloths or his sex/alcohol filled stench, bringing his knees close to his chest the broken T'Soni hugged himself tightly, silently moaning himself to sleep.

**00000**

After convincing herself that tonight's events must have been all just a bad dream Jacqueline gave Liara a hug and whispered that she'll she her in the morning, slowly Jack crept up the stairs to her guest room and locked the door. Laying in bed she contemplated whether or not it was the brightest decision to homestead in the T'Soni estate for the entirety of the semester, or if she should try and find her own place. Things had changed so much since Jacqueline had received John's letter three months ago, inviting her to join Ascension as an assistant instructor. Shepard even had gone as far as working with Cpt Hackett so if she accepted, she wouldn't have to be dropped from the N-Program. Instead she would complete similar Asari commando training and be allowed to advance with the rest of her class. Which is why Shepard's actions tonight troubled her so much, she had never in her life seen such hate filled eyes directed towards her. Especially not from a Man whom was generally know as such a goodfella, but as Jack glanced at the glowing blue clock on her desk she realized that what whatever was troubling Shepard would have to wait until tomorrow. Taking off all her clothes the weary biotic slithered under the covers and drifted off to sleep.

**00000**

From behind Liara felt slender arms hug her from behind, her heart skipped a beat thinking that maybe the appendages belonged to her human brother. But looking down she saw the ink filled decorative skin of Jacqueline and mentally sighed, returning the females embrace and wishing her a goodnight Liara returned to compose her messages.

_To: Matriarch Benezia_

_Hello mother, I don't know what is the best way to say this so I will be blunt. Johnathon is currently suffering from blackouts and memory loss, just today he suffered an episode where he lost around 4 to 5 hours. He didn't hurt himself or anyone, but when John awoke he was in the same terrified and self destructive state I found him in when he was trying to track Cerberus's movements all those years ago. Needles to say when confronted, he shielded himself in anger and lashed out violently against anyone who tried to talk him down. _

_As you are aware Mother this isn't the first time we've seen this, but this is the first time that a blackout has lasted for over an hour. Furthermore while you have been on earth, I have kept tabs on Johnathon's whereabouts and it seems like he is purposefully trying to cut all his ties to Humanity. As well as ... well this is rather embarrassing... but his sexual "tastes" have changed as well. He even signed a companionship contract tonight for six months with a maiden he just met._

_Overall it is looking more and more like his subconscious mind has begun successfully tearing down the barriers you and I created. And instead of confronting his past so he can move on, John is actively trying to suppress his memories and deny anything is wrong. I fear that if he doesn't seek help he may become a harm to himself or others. _

_Please, what should I do Mother? I don't want to lose him again. _

_Love, Little Wing_

After Liara hit the send key on her Omni-tool she went to the fridge and poured herself a glass of wine. She knew that like her brother, She had a class to teach in a few hours but after the night they all just had she needs some comfort. Moments later her Omni pings indicating she had a new message.

_To: Little Wing_

_I will be home as soon as possible. For now, lets just let his decisions play out. _

_Love, Nezzy_

Taking a final sip Liara places cleans her glace and puts it away. Shutting off the lights as walks upstairs she hears faint sobs coming from Shepard's room. As much as it pained her not to rush in and hold him tight she knew that this was not the appropriate time. Instead Liara sits and waits outside her brothers door until she hears him stop. Holding back the heat that had grown behind her eyes Liara goes to her room and locks the door. As a tear slides down her face she crawls into bed and tries to fall asleep, knowing full well that tomorrow was going to be a battle.

* * *

**T'Soni House**

**Athame university, Mars **

**0900 zulu**

_***Beep*Beep*Beep*Beep***_

Rolling out of bed Shepard yawned and groggily shut off his alarm, noting the time. Cracking a bleary bloodshot eye John pushed back the throbbing pain of his hangover and trudged himself into the bathroom. Practically dunking his head under the faucet John opens the tap and lets the cool water from the tap pour down his face. Closing his eyes he focuses on the sound of the trickling water, hoping it would drown out the thoughts racing through his mind. Suddenly John's insides felt as if they were on a roller coaster, knowing what comes next he quickly rushed to the toilet.

The disheveled Shepard barely got the seat up in time before he hurled the contents of his stomach into the white porcelain bowl. Head spinning and legs giving out, John clutches onto the once white bowl for dear life. Too focused on the now swirling mixture of browns, greens, and tans in the murky water to notice anything else.

"Jesus Christ Johnny! How much did you drink last night?" worried Jacqueline as she rushed over to rub her former teachers back. The tattooed woman choosing to ignore asking about the event's of last night.

After another gut wrenching hurl John panted "Don't know... maybe three" after another hurl he wheezes teary eyed "Maybe four."

"Four drinks did this too you?" Jacks tone laced with disbelief

"Bottles... do me a favor Jack, go grab the omni from my room please."

"Sure thing, I'll be right back, do you want me to call Liara?" asked Jack from the doorway

Turning around to rest his back against the wall John's teary vision saw that his former student was wearing nothing but a small bathrobe that left nothing to the imagination. Coughing to remove the acidic taste of vomit from his sore throat he waved her off, "No, no,... I'll be alright, she worries about me enough already."

"Are you sure? I mean it wouldn't be a problem." pausing, a sad look flashed across Jacks features, "You gonna cancel today's class?, I'm sure you could get someone to cover."

"Yes I'm sure about not calling my sister, and no classes aren't canceled, now hurry up." Toggling the flush button on the toilet, the putrid odor of stale brandy and partially digested pizza was swept from the room. Replaced with the standard flowery scent of the houses automated cleaning system. Looking down into the bowl John notices that all evidence had been whipped away. **"By the goddess, What an industrious age we live in."**

"Here you go" replied Jack as she handed John his custom Omni-tool.

Slipping the metallic bracelet onto his right wrist John flicked his hand, triggering the devices activation switch. With his left hand John scrolled through the numerous applications until he stopped on medical scans. Now unlike standard factory mass produced Omni-tool's, Shepard had built his own from scratch. As such the device was equipped with non standard parts granting room for twice as many modification slots, a 300% increased battery life, as well as a host of other niche abilities. Selecting the breathalyzer application John huffed into his orange glowing palm, seconds later the tool chimed displaying his results.

"Well?" Jack questioned leaning against the door frame.

"Apparently I have a blood alcohol content of .16" After a moment of silence the still siting human gestured over to the medicine cabinet, "Could you please get me the bottle that.."

"Ya Shepard I think I know what you need." Jack scoffed cutting him off mid-sentence. Flaring her biotics Jack opened the cabinet and enveloped a bottle of pills in blue, tossing them to Shepard.

"Thanks" John croaked as he dry swallowed a couple of the rapid detox pills. Knowing from experience that they took about a half hour to take effect, he resided himself to stay near a toilet and began to doze off.

"Hey! Boy scout!" shouted Jack as she tapped his legs waking him up. "You gonna get outta here so I can take a shower?"

"Just go ahead and take one Jack, were both adults and I promise not to look." moaned John from behind closed eyes adding, "Unless you want me vomiting all over the house I'm just gonna stay right here for a bit" as he grabbed the toilet bowl.

Huffing her frustration, Jack slipped off her robe, being sure to smack John hard in the face with it, and dashed into the shower. As John sat he tried to remember how he had gotten so drunk, but more importantly why. Over the drowning noise from the shower John surprisingly heard a pleasant voice began to sing.

**"My what a lovely voice, I guess Jack is full of surprises."** thought Shepard as he took off his jacket and rolled it underneath him, forming a temporary pillow. Feeling around the pockets John pulled out a slip of paper.

"Hey Jack?...Why do I have this card from Professor Lylyna T'Goni in my jacket?"

"You don't remember?" replied Jack as she gargled some hot water in her mouth.

"No I don't which is why I'm asking, also why is her adress with a time to meet her written on the back?" John asked honestly dumbfounded

"You don't remember making purple passionately invoking the goddess name?"

Shutting his eyes tight John forced his mind to try and clear the mental block. "I remember going in and working late, it gets fuzzy but I think I remember having drinks with this T'Goni, but then its nothing but darkness."

Opening the door and stepping out John watched the steam evaporate off of Jacks tight colorful body, "You seriously don't remember attacking Liara and myself last night?"

Handing her a towel John just shook his head. "Well you did, but now considering that you came home beyond black out drunk, it doesn't surprise me you got memory issues." Jack replied drying her hair, seeing Shepard stare at her naked body she smirked "What's a matter Johnny Boy? You been so busy banging maidens you forgot what a human looks like?"

Quickly adverting his eyes he sat in silence for a moment before replying, "Sorry"

* * *

Thirty minuets minuets later John was standing by the door to his skycar, showered and shaved in an attire he lovingly referred to as "Professor Badass". The ensemble was comprised of a long sleeved black leather jacket with a thin white stripes running down each sleeve, underneath that was a similar steel grey long sleeved shirt with an embroidered black Ascension program logo sewn onto the left chest, A pair of navy blue denim jeans, and a pair of dark brown roughout service shoes. Looking in the cars window John caught a glimpse of himself in the cars window and couldn't but be amused at how roguishly good looking he was.

"Come on Jack, you don't want to be late on your first day! Might give the boss a bad impression!" John joked as he honked the cars horn.

"HOLD YOUR FUCKING HORSES!" bellowed Jack as she ran out the door with a piece of toast in her mouth, struggling to zip up one of her boots.

"Seriously Jack?" mused Shepard as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Are you trying to give every male student a raging hard on?"

"What? You think I'm gonna let you steal all the attention, don't act like you haven't heard the gossip." touted Jack as she got into the car.

"What gossip?" asked John as he turned the engine over and set the destination for the auto pilot.

"Please... all the girls are like, "Oh Shepard, hes soooo dreamy!" Or "Have you seen his eyes, their so blue I could just lose myself in them" Jack mockingly swooned as the car sped off into the air.

"Oh come on Jack they don't seriously say that. And with that getup your bound to get some looks yourself." replied Shepard as he gave her body a once over with his eyes, "I've seen strippers with more cloths on than you."

"What the fuck do you expect Boyscout? your letter didn't say anything about a dress code, and I'm sure as shit ain't covering up my ink."

"Ya but you look like you rummaged through the medicine cabinet and decided that white gauze was a good look."

"Hey this outfit cost me a weeks pay." Jack replied as she re-positioned herself in the seat, "Besides I got this design from one of the Commando outfitters."

Looking at Jacks nearly topless chest John rolled his eyes, "looks more like it's from an S&M sex shop that caters specifically _too _commandos."

"What do you want me to say? If one of the little twerps gets too handsy I'll warp him into next week."

"Please don't... You have no idea the amount of forms that'll be to fill out." exasperatingly replied John as they arrived at their destination.

* * *

**Athame University**

**Campus square **

**0945 zulu**

The trip from the staff parking lot to the classroom was an interesting one for Shepard to say the least. As for the first time he noticed that not all eyes were on him for a change. At first no one knew what to make of the pair, the students of course made snide remarks and more than a few brave males asked Jack her hourly rate, and to John's amazement Jack brushed them off easily. In all honesty he was expecting to have to call an ambulance when a particularly dense male student wouldn't take no for a answer. But thankfully when Jack flared her biotics he wised up, humorously after that happened all the idle gossip magically stopped. And the remaining long walk to his classroom was spent in relative peace.

Holding his classroom door open John motioned for Jack to come inside. "Well we got at least a good ten minuets before people start showing up, so is there anything you want to know about?"

"Ya, where's my desk?" Jack asked as she stood in the center of the room looking for a place to sit down.

looking around the room John realized he had completely forgot to send in the requisition forms for another desk. "Hold on I'll be right back." leaving the room he returned moments later with a spare students desk in his arms. "Sorry Jack, I guess this will have to do for now. Don't worry I should have this little snafu cleared up in few days." said John, placing the desk next to his. "So, any other questions?"

"I'm kinda just wondering what I'm supposed to do, I mean I don't know shit about teaching."

"Don't worry Jack, just fallow my lead and everything will be fine." reassuringly gestured Shepard, seeing the same nervousness he had on his first day in Jacqueline. Hearing the bell ring John motioned for Jack to take her seat as the students filled in. Not surprisingly they all were speechless at Jacks provocative attire, and after the noise of shuffling chairs quieted down John began.

"Hello ladies and gentlemen, I'm Professor Johnathon Shepard and welcome to Biotic Mastery 101. If you're enrolled in this course it hopefully means that you all have at some point displayed some form of dark energy manipulation. If you think you're in the wrong class or got lost, now is the time to speak up." seeing no one move Shepard continued, "Good, then it seems like you're all where your suppose to be. Now if you're wondering who the woman standing next to me is, don't worry, well get around to introduction's later. But first I need to take attendance and hand out the syllabus."

**00000**

Two hours later Jack and John were locking the classroom door as the finale lingering student shuffled out into the hall.

"Well Jack what do you think?"

"Uhhhh that was so boring!" moaned Jack as her shoulders sank so low John almost thought they would hit the floor.

Motioning her with his arm to walk with him, "What did you expect? This is the first day. I'm not gonna go _Hey kids! Lets start blowing shit up!_ on day one, besides most of them can barley use their power on command." returning a couple nods from teachers, "Not everyone's like you or Miri, most students are more akin to Jacob. You remember the problems he had with finding his power and field manipulation."

"Ya don't remind me, I still got that dent in my skull from that accidental biotic explosion." Jack replied as she rubbed her head below her ponytail. Bringing up her Omni Jack checked the time, "Oh shit shep! I gotta go!"

Nodding John just smiled "Ok, have fun with the commandos..." as she was almost out of earshot he hollered "Don't kill anyone!"

A few minuets later John was once again at his office door. Upon opening the door John was hit in the head by a falling pillow that had been wedged in the windowsill above the door frame. Looking around the room he noticed that it seemed as if a bomb had gone off. Tables were flipped with broken legs, books had been pulled off shelves and bits of charred paper littered the floor; no doubt the mingling of biotic fields had been involved. His desk was ajar with a half empty brandy bottle lying on its side. In short the room was a complete mess that reeked of old sweat and stale alcohol, and for a while John contemplated just dousing the entire place in gasoline and lighting a match. But since setting fire to a technically military/government building was a crime that not even he could get away with, John sighed and began the arduous task of cleaning up.

* * *

**1630 zulu**

"knock knock" Lylyna sang cheerfully as she stood in John's doorway. Before He could turn around Lylyna had locked the door behind her and sprinted the distance between them.

The force of the violet maidens enthusiasm easily overpowered John. Taking her full weight, Lylyna effortlessly pushed the young human back against his desk, her lips hungrily crashing against his own. Sounds of scraping furniture and clattering pads filled the room as John's arms threw work onto the floor, searching for purchase to halt the attack. John's eyes bulged as he felt her wet purplish blue tongue worm it's way into his mouth. Lylyna moaned her enjoyment of his taste as her hands roughly clawed at his clothes, looking for a entrance to exploit. Feeling himself starting to become lost and vision darkening, John knew he had to stop. Channeling a small amount of energy into his muscles he used the bitoically boosted strength to gently but firmly push Lylyna off of him.

"Why did you stop" panted Lylyna as she tried to force herself back on top of him.

"Because I'm not your personal fuck toy Lylyna," John sternly gasped out while sucking in much needed air, "Besides I just got this place put together and I'm in no hurry to destroy it again." chuckled John as he gestured around the clean office with his arm.

"Actually John, you kinda are. Well at least for the next six months anyway." winked Lily as she quickly retrieved a pad from her office and handed it to John.

"What the hell is this?"

"Surely you spent enough time around Asari to learn about Illium, particularly about their lax-ed business regulations." seeing John nod while reading she continued, "Well a component of that is relaxed laws concerning indentured servitude and sexual companionship contracts. And as you can see by your thumbprint and signature, you agreed to be my servant for the next six months."

"Um couple of problems with your little plan here, One: were not in Asar space so this contract has no legal standing. Two: If you actually knew anything about me you know that I would never agree to any of this. And finally even if this was a binding contract, you would need the signature of a third party to validate the proof of sale and I don't see that anywhere."

"Not to burst your bubble John but you are wrong on all accounts. While the sol system is most assuredly not a protectorate of the Asari Republics, the grounds of and surrounding Athame University are technically classified by the Systems Alliance as an embassy of the republics. Thereby fallowing humanities and galactic legal codes, anything built on or people that reside within an embassies sovereign soil are subject to any and all legal codes of said government."

"You can't be serious." deadpanned John

"Yes Shepard, technically you are standing on Asari soil meaning the contract you signed is valid. You should also know that I didn't force you into this at all, it was you who actually suggested it. And finally I do have a co-signer of one Dr. Liara T'Soni."

"There is no fucking way my sister agreed to any of this you manipulative tentacle headed bitch!" John screamed as the data pad rocket past Lily's head to disintegrate against the wall behind her.

Pulling up a copy of the contract on her Omni-tool she continued, "I received this signature last night after we all had a lengthy conversation."

"I WAS DRUNK FOR CHRISTS SAKE! I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER HALF OF LAST NIGHT!"

"Drunkenness is a common excuses on Illium in situations as these, as such the courts have barred it from being a viable defense. Now If you would please calm down, we need to swing by the T'Soni estate to pick up a sufficient set of belongings." Lily curtly replied as she held his office door open.

Realizing that no amount of screaming would get him anywhere John angrily resided himself to fallow Lylyna to her car. As they walked John activated his Omni-tool and composed a message to his sister.

_Liara,_

_please tell me this whole contract thing with Lylyna is an elaborate joke._

_John_

Opening the door to Lylyna's car John's Omni pinged indicating a new message had arrived. As the car lifted into the sky he opened his inbox.

_John,_

_I tried to talk you out of this last night but you wouldn't have any of it. To be blunt, you've made your bed now you gotta sleep in it. But you should be happy to know that it is only for six months and Lylyna did signed a confidentiality agreement so don't worry about the press._

_I'm sorry John, I know this will be difficult for you to hear, but consider this as a clear sign that you do in fact need help. Over the last year you've tried to convince mother and I that everything was all right, when it clearly wasn't. Drowning your sorrows in alcohol on a nightly basis, hallucinations, hearing voices, losing track of time, blacking out for hours on end...You need HELP, so maybe this will be the event that triggers you into seeking the treatment you desperately need. _

_Don't worry, Lylyna won't make you do anything you don't wanna do, see seems nice by the way. See you in six months_

_Love, Liara._

* * *

"I can't believe this is actually happening" muttered John as Lylyna helped him pack his bags. Spending the thirty plus minuet skycar ride to his house in silence did wonders for temper his anger.

"Don't worry my pet, I'll be taking very good care of you." cooed Lylyna as she snaked her arms around Shepard's waist from behind to hug him tightly. "I honestly don't understand why you have so many reservations. All the research I've done on human males indicates that this scenario is highly desirable."

Feeling her lips lightly brush the back of John's neck he shudders at the contact, "I care less about the sex aspect Ms. T'Gori, I'm more worried about someone finding out or this contract thing interfering with our jobs. I mean what will the students think let alone the other instructors if they ever found out?"_  
_

Handing him another dress shirt Lylyna couldn't help but imagine all the lewd things she was going to have her new toy do to her. "You worry to much pet , if anyone gets nosy we can always say you're helping me with lesson plans, cause you know we do actually work together. And the contract stipulates that Ascensions offices, classrooms, and training facility are off limits. So work won't be a problem unless you make it a problem."

"Fine, but can you please stop calling me pet, it is really demeaning." sighed John defeated

"Consider it punishment for your outburst earlier today Pet, and for continuing to call me by my last name. Now you have five minuets to get your things into my car or else you will receive a punishment."

Grunting his disapproval John began to carry his luggage to Lylyna's car. He had to pack light as unlike him her house was considerably smaller. **"Come on John, why don't you think of this like an extended vacation."** thought Shepard as he closed the trunk to her car and got into the passengers seat. Moment's later he watched his house speed away out of view as the Auto Pilot took over.


	5. Life as a pet

_**A/N: so ya bold italic letters indicate thoughts and any constructive criticism would be more than helpful.**_

_**And don't worry, I dialed back the darkness quite a bit for this chapter. It's still there, but I'm gonna try and be more subtle with the dosses so we all don't feel like curling up into a ball and crying.**_

* * *

**January 1st, 2151 **

**7:40pm**

**Professor T'Goni's House**

**(dropping military time cause not everyone knows it)**

"Were here pet, time to come see where you'll be living for the next six months." Lilyna cooed merrily as she shut off the cars engine

Rolling his eyes at the "pet" comment Shepard collected his luggage from the trunk and allowed himself to be led like an animal to his new house. Taking quick glances around at the neighborhood he sees that most if not all of the mailboxes had Asari last names. "Good" the human muttered beneath his breath, knowing full well that unlike Humans, Asari rarely contributed to spreading rumors or gossip.

Of course like all species they partake in the banter, but unlike everyone else Asari preferred collecting the juicy secrets and blackmailing a target into submission. While this habit of their's wasn't ideal, it was surely a hell of a lot better as the blackmailer always kept their lips tightly sealed. And judging by the subtle glances Lilyna was drawing from a few peeping Matrons and maybe an envious Matriarch, John could pretty much guess what they all wanted.

**_One would think a species so revered by the galaxy for their grace, elegance, and poise, would be better at hiding their desires _**he mused, returning a courteous smile to a matron.

Other than the residents names, the block of two story prefabbed houses were all very reminiscent of sprawling suburbs on Earth. _**Well as much of a suburbs that's possible on non garden colony world**_. reflected John while looking over the rows of glittering mile high skyscrapers far off in the distance.

"Come on pet, hurry up." Lilyna enthusiastically smiled from the doorway, pulling his attention back to the house. Not wanting to add fuel to the speculation her neighbors were no doubt going to be having, he quickly hustled inside.

Entering the house John placed his bags at the foot of the stairs case to his right and took a good hard look at the place he'd be calling home. Gazing over the piles of dirty clothes, empty take out containers, and unpacked moving boxes, he figured Lilyna must have just moved in. _**Probably the first thing she's gonna order me to do is either clean this place up or help her**** unpack. **_

Looking at the barren, furniture-less empty house he sighed, "So where am I going to sleep Lily? If it's the floor I might need an accelerator cannon, seeing as that pile of clothes over there appears to be moving." John chided, pointing to a shifting pile of what he guessed counted as black commando leathers.

"We'll get to that in a minuet pet, but first I need you to fallow me." Taking his hand in hers she led him into the kitchen and pulled out a chair for him to sit in from the kitchen table; her seemingly only piece of furniture aside from the factory standard kitchen appliances. Taking the seat across from him Lilyna placed her folded arms on the table and began "Shepard, while you're staying here under contract, I have created some additional rules that you will need to abide by." Seeing her human cock an eyebrow in either anger or amusement, she quickly added "Don't worry though, they all fall within the pre-established boundaries." regarding his dejected sigh as a sign to continue Lilyna laced her honey voice with a bit of compassion,

"Rule number one: As of now, I am your Mistress and owner, when you speak, you will address me as such."

"Rule number two: While you are in this house you will obey any and all of my commands, when I ask or give you something, you will always charmingly reply 'Yes Mistress' or 'Thank you Mistress' and you are to never say 'no' to me or speak unless spoken to first."

"Rule number three: When I am home Pet, you will always remain within a three foot radius of my body, when I leave a room you fallow me, if I take a shower you stand at the door with a towel." grinning with a small smile she sultrily added, "That is of course unless you wish to join me." Perceiving John's amused chuckle as a good sign, she slightly relaxed and continued.

"Rule number four: Everyday when you come home you will head to the master bedroom upstairs and remove your clothes. There you will neatly fold them and place them on the right corner of the bed. On the beds left corner you will find an outfit that I have chosen for you to wear and you will put it on, if you find nothing, you will remain nude, and go about your daily chores."

"Rule number five: Anytime I come home I expect you to be kneeling at my front door patiently waiting for my entry and report to me the status of my house. It doesn't matter if it's day or night, if you're home, you will be waiting." seeing him begin to voice an objection Lilyna raised her hand, effectively silencing him. "If you have any questions pet, wait till the end and I'll answer them."

"Rule number six: While sexually servicing me, you will not, under any circumstances allow yourself to orgasm before me, and never on or inside any part of my body. The only time or places you will be allowed to cum is when and where I say. Furthermore, at all times you will keep your body clean, ready, and willing to engage in any sort of sexual activity I so desire. And if you're open to the idea Pet, I will bring other parties in to join us in our activities. But if or when we go down that route, all my rules still apply, and you will always serve them as if they are your Mistress."

"Rule number seven: If you fail to obey my commands, or comply with any of these rules you will be punished. But as per the stipulations in the contract, and the fact that I'm not some soulless monster, any punishment you receive will not inflict serious physical or long term psychological harm... In fact I'm pretty sure that one of my 'punishments' you will find quite enjoyable."

Chuckling at his confused look Lilyna leaned across the table and sensually stroked his tanned arm while purring huskily into his ear, "Here's a hint pet, it involves orgasm denial..." Wanting to emphasize her skill Lilyna ran her other hand through the humans jet black hair and yanked hard, eliciting a painful hiss from John. Trailing her blue tongue along his earlobe, Lilyna bit down hard and muttered animalisticly "I'm an Asari Pet, I've had over 250 years to master the art of sex, so trust me when I say. I-know-what-makes-you-tick." Releasing his reddening earlobe she glanced down and saw the male's telltale sign of arousal.

_**So pain gets him off, I wonder in his case if this is a conditioned response.** _The undercover therapist mentally noted,_** Although it's not all that uncommon for people obsessed with control, like Shepard, to find powerlessness highly erotic. Without melding, the only way to know for sure is to push him, hopefully I can induce an episode with enough pressure. **_"So my new pet is a masochist hmm, how _very _interesting." she cooed into his ear, "You'll probably love it then when I leave you bound and gagged on my bed for endless hours with a vibrator shoved up your ass," through her hand Lilyna felt his pace become slightly erratic. _**Come on John, I need you to show me how best to heal you. **_"Unable to move, unable to scream, unable to stop me from doing whatever I want."

Resting her head in the crook of his neck she sensed his now highly erratic pulse and momentarily worried she might cause a heart attack. Employing her stroking hand the Violet doctor slowly moved it down to rest on John's sweaty, clammy one. The telltale signs of regression all but confirmed the trained consorts theory. _**I'm so very sorry John, but I had to do it. **_Lilyna silently cried, feeling his heart rate steady at 25 beats per minuet. Relinquishing the clavicle that had found its way into her mouth Lilyna pulled away, only to be heartbroken by the soulless stare Shepard's once electric blue eyes were giving off, knowing full well that she caused this. But now progress and healing could begin.

_**By the goddess, **__**I was hoping Matriarch Benezia was overreacting when she contacted Sha'ira for help all those years ago. I mean how deeply ingrained are these shut down responses? And how many triggers do they have?... I've only ever seen this dead eyed stare of his in battle weary soldiers or rescued slaves. **_Continuing to look at the broken human before her Lilyna wondered just how much Shepard actually knew about what was going on inside his own head. From the personnel profile she memorized she knew Johnathon wasn't stupid. Like all human biotics his IQ was in the high 150's, and his unnatural proficiency with manipulating biotic fields indicated a superior level of synaptic control. _**So why are such drastic measures necessary for him to get treatment? **__**Granted he's ****not a trained therapist, but certainly a man of his intelligence must be able to recognize the warning signs... I guess in the long run none of that really matters, all I need to do is focus on keeping up the rouse and deciding the best course of action for my patient. **_Placing a very sensual kiss on Shepard's lips Lilyna initiated a shallow meld and erased his short term memory. Moments later from the vast darkness in his mind she felt his consciousness slowly start becoming aware and gently allowed the link to dissolve. _**Ok Lilyna, time to go to work.**_

Resting back in her seat Lilyna continued to mindlessly talk and act as if nothing had happened, while Shepard snapped out of his daze. "Rule number thirteen, Pet..." seeing his weary look she knew she had to act fast, "Are you even listening to me?"

"What was that Lily?" replied John, shaking his head as if coming out of a fog.

"I asked pet, were you listening to me?"

"Sorry, I must have zoned out somewhere around rule seven."

Dramatically exhaling Lilyna returned to the slightly giddy false persona her patient knew best, "Never mind... well talk about the other rules later." Seeing she once again had his full attention Lilyna sweetly smiled, "Basically John, all you need to know is that how pleasant or painful these next six months are all depends on you. If you fallow along with the program and do what I ask, I guarantee that you'll enjoy yourself." Shifting to a more friendly posture Lilyna's eyes drank in the signals the humans body language was transmitting, "Just so you know, I promise that whatever happens in this house, stays in this house, and if any guests come over here, they will abide by this rule. Also I will not under any circumstance force or coerce you into melding with me, and you will not be punished should you refuse." With her studious gaze Lilyna saw how much comfort her last statement brought to the human. "But should you agree, I promise that I will not pry or look into any memories you do not wish to share." In a very human gesture she extending her violet hand across the table, "Deal?"

"Deal" replied John as he shook her hand,_** Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that I'm missing something? **_

"Good!, Now that that's settled I would like you to meet the other roommate you'll be sharing this house with." Releasing John's hand Lilyna walked back into the living room and uncovered a decent sized dessert tortoise from under a pile of clothes. Picking the reptile up with her biotics, John watches curiously from the kitchen as the tortoises legs flailed against the lack of gravity. "This adorable little guy's name is Tank, and despite what you may think he is incredibly fast. So if you leave a door open be sure to watch out for him as he likes to pull off daring escape attempts. Also he's kinda of a little thief, he likes to steal shiny objects and hide them around the house." rubbing Tanks elongated neck, Shepard swore he saw the reptile smile before being put back down.

**_Good, it seems like using Tank as a distraction was just what was needed to get his mind off of his_ _mini blackout_, **Lilyna silently mused as she walked over to the kitchens cupboards to retrieve her tortoises food, placing two scoops of the dry pebbles into the food dish by the kitchen door to the backyard.

Nervously scratching his head John tried to process the two vastly different personalities of the violet beauty in front of him. On one side was the dark, mysterious, and if he was being honest with himself, kinda fucking hot, dominatrix commando. And on the other side was the beyond kitten cute, innocent, playful Maiden.

_**Man what have I gotten myself into? I don't know whether I should be excited or afraid, I mean who knew that someone who looked and acted so much like an angel, would be so... so, filthy... I wonder what the sex will be like? **_Thinking about the mess he cleaned up in his office earlier Shepard tried again to remember how it got that way, but to no avail._** God dammit! Now would be a super fan-fucking-tastic time to remember last nights escapades... **_Looking over his shoulder at her purplish scalp crests the solution dawned on him, _**Wait**** she's an Asari! I'm sure if I ask Lily to show me she will.**_ Grinning like an idiot at that thought, Shepard continued to give Lilyna's body a once over with his eyes,_** why haven't I noticed how her lips look really soft, I wonder what they feel like? If they're anything like her hand I... Wait! What the flying fuck is a matter with you Shepard, now's not the time to be admiring her body, in fact you shouldn't be admiring her at all!... You should be fucking pissed off about getting turned into her sex slave! **_Mind fuming over being used, John's vision rested on Lilyna's beautiful face, and was filled with a strange sense of calm,_**A-l-t-h-o-u-g-h...**** t******__he darkness of her royal blue eyes are really rather striking against her flawless purplish skin, and her hips do look to have the right amount of cushioning, and I bet her petite perky breasts would fit in my hand like a glove... __****__Um,_ wait, _**why is she's starring at me?... Shit! How long have I been in my head? Fuck! Fuck! Fickity! Fuck! Say something you idiot!**_

_**So what's the plan Mistress?**_

_**Not in your fucking head you fucking dolt! Open your mouth and try again you stupid fucking fucktard!**_

"Um Mistress? Do you mind if I clean up a bit?" **_(begins mental slow clap), Wow Shepard, you're a regular Casanova. You're a guest in her house and the first thing you do is insult her... Brilliant Shepard just brilliant. _**Thankfully it seemed this caused a light bulb to go off in Lilyna's head and she let his insult pass.

"What a lovely idea pet, while you clean I'll go get us some dinner, afterwords if you're a good boy... You get to have me for dessert." she giggled while exiting the house locking the door behind her. Looking down at Tank eating next to him, John rolled his eyes and started picking up the place.

* * *

**(((((((((([-(}000000{)-]))))))))))**

* * *

**January 1st, 2151**

** 8:30pm**

Throwing the third full trash bag into the bin in the backyard, Shepard wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. Admiring the colonies artificial sunset John marveled at the massive feat of engineering the colony represented. Sure different species colonized moons and lifeless rocks across the galaxy, but the populations of those establishments lived entirely in landing ships or under bio domes. Besides the Citadel, Mars and Luna were the only places where organics could freely walk outside. Leaning against the houses metal wall for support he stared off at the orbital tower and city skyline, he could stare at it for hours. Watching shuttles, ships and skycars of various sizes zip around the buildings at break neck speeds, like a hive of buzzing insects, all fallowing some unseen predestined course. However the decelerating whine of a nearby skycar engine drew Shepard's attention back to the house.

_**I wonder what my "Mistress" brought home for dinner?... **__**Mistress, I really fucking hate that title, probably could get her to amend that in the contract if I play my cards** **right. **_Walking back to the rear door John saw Tank crawling around on the grass, _**Fuck, how the hell did that little bugger get outside? I swear the door was only open for a second. **_Rushing to pick up the tortoise, John got back inside to see Lilyna already waiting for him at the kitchen table.

"Breaking my rules already Pet?" purred Lilyna as she set a bag of food down on the table. Cocking her hip to the side, she shot him an intense gaze while a devilish smile spread across her lips. "I take it this means you _want_ to be punished."

"No, Mistress I don't want to be punished."

As Lilyna sensually walked over, John's eyes couldn't help but watch her swaying hips. "What did I say about saying 'no' to me Pet?"

"... I'm huhhh... I'm sorry mistress" John started, "I must have been distracted with cleaning up the house, and I forgot the rules." he said as innocently as possible. Knowing full well that sometimes, you just gotta play the game.

Cupping the humans cheek in her hand Lilyna merrily hummed, "Irregardless Pet, rules are rules, and you broke them." signaling for him to leave, "Now strip, go to my room, and wait on my bed for my arrival. I will be withholding your food tonight as punishment."

"Yes Mistress." John sighed, "Do you want me to shower? Cause I worked up quite a sweat getting this place organized."

"No, you will wait for me, now get out of my sight."

"...Yes mistress."**_  
_**

Walking through the now clean house John made his way to the master bedroom and disrobed, sitting on the bed as naked as the day he was born he heard a machine somewhere whirl to life. And moments later he felt cold air being pumped into the room, causing a chill to run up his spine. _**No doubt she turned on the AC just to increase my discomfort. **_

Minuets passed in silence while the cold air continued to nip painfully at his extremities. Attempting to warm himself up, John vigorously rubbed his exposed limbs with his hands. But with no clothes to create an oxygen barrier between skin and the chilly air his efforts were in vain, giving up, he pulled his knees into his chest to conserve warmth. And as he sat in relative silence he wondered just exactly how many times Lilyna had done something like this. Her actions and ease with which she dictated orders gave off the impression that this wasn't her first rodeo, but at the same time her body language told John she really didn't want to be all that dominating with him, it was weird to say the least.

With teeth starting to chatter, the naked humans acute sense of smell picked up the heavenly fragrance of charbroiled meat and spices. The delectable smelling food caused his mouth to water and stomach to rumble with need. **_She's probably having a steak._** Shepard mused drinking in the succulent scent wafting through the open bedroom door. Closing his eyes John could almost taste the tantalizing strip of flesh on his tongue, imagining his teeth tearing into the juicy hot pink center of a medium rare sirloin. The desire for food was only compounded by his stomach painfully reminding him that he skipped lunch.

The mere thought of hot food filling his gullet tore John out of his daze. The key word being "Hot". Shivering, he felt goosebumps break out over his arms and legs. Glancing around John's heavily lidded eyes fell upon the enticing looking bedspread behind him. Warm thick comforters, gentle soft pillows, all promising a blissful slumber. _**No, shower first, then bed.** **The feel of ****piping hot water pounding aching muscles into soothing**_**_ relaxation._**_ **Or maybe a long hot bath would be better... Ya, just soaking in the tub and letting the hot water wrap me up in a blanket of bliss... **_

Losing the battle to stay awake, John curled up into a ball and felt the dark tendrils of slumber start to claim him, but his vibrating Omni-tool pulled him from sleeps comforting embrace. Rummaging through his discarded clothes Shepard found the pulsating electronic bracelet and checked the new message.

_From: Matriarch Benezia _

_Dear Johnathon,_

_I hope this message finds you well. If you can't guess I'm writing because Liara informed me of the companion contract you signed with Lilyna T'Gori. But don't worry my child, I'm not going to tell you how angry or disappointed I am with the way your living your life. You are an adult, you make your own decisions, and if you chose to spend your time drinking and screwing maidens who am I to judge, Goddess knows I was young once too. But please remember to be safe, I don't want little blue or pink grandchildren just yet. (not that I wouldn't be elated to hear the the pitter-patter of little feet once again before I leave this world. Speaking of which, do you know if your sister is dating anyone?)_

_In other news it seems that my trip has been extended for at least another two weeks, I can't tell you why, all I can tell you is that we will have a lot to talk about when I return. By the way, it would be lovely if you could pick me up from the spaceport when I return, I'll message you the details later, hope to see you soon._

_Love,_

_Nezzy_

_P.S. please try not to break Ms. T'Gori. Don't laugh, I know how "insatiable" you can sometimes get with the opposite sex. Before asking how I know, you should be aware that you were about as subtle as an atom bomb at sneaking women into the house, you didn't fool anyone, and your "partners" weren't exactly as quiet as you thought... Be safe & Have fun :)_

* * *

**(]&&&&&&&[}))))))))))))))))))))**

* * *

**January 1st, 2151**

**9:00pm**

**_Hmm, I wonder what will be the best for Shepard to do first?_** Mused Lilyna as she carved into a juicy steak, **_Maybe some mutual fellatio... Goddess knows his species soft dexterous tongues are so delightful, I swear, Turian's may have reach but they are so ruff it becomes uncomfortable. Oh, and lets not forget the rows of sharp teeth! One slip of the Jaw and snap!_** The purple maiden punctuated her thoughts with a hearty bite into a cut strip of meat.**_ Although when humanity does goes public I bet their little Medi-gel concoction will cause a significant spike in Asari / krogan & Asari / Turian relations._** Sipping from a glass of red wine the doctor silently chuckles,**_ By the Goddess! Now that I think about it humans might just replace Asari as the new sexual delicacy. Thankfully they cant meld or else Sha'ira and I might find ourselves out of a job. _**Finishing that thought Lilyna puts her dishes away and stores her pets meal in the fridge for later. Stopping her sinful musings she remembers how her pet's soldier brought her so much ecstasy in his office. _**He truly was an animal, relentlessly pounding my quivering body, claiming all my holes for himself... If last night was any indication, I am truly going to enjoy this assignment.**_

Feeling a wave of heat shoot to her core Lilyna gently slid a hand down her pants to feel the pooling wetness of her sex, pulling her fingers out she noticed how they glistening in the light, coated with a sheen of her own fluids. Without an ounce of shame the dripping fingers become lost in her warm mouth as her tongue thoroughly cleansed the purple digits. _**I can't believe it took him doing this to me to discover how delicious I taste.**_ **_No wonder he was so eager to sign the contract... Although I did kind of plant the idea in his mind when we melded... speaking of which I think it's time our first therapy session began. _**Grabbing an unmarked box from her living room Lilyna gleefully skipped up the stairs and into her master bedroom. Closing the door behind her she turns and sees her wounded human, naked on the bed reading a message.

"So my pet, how are you enjoying yourself? are you cold?" his mistress inquired, pulling John's attention away from his Omni-tool.

"I'm enjoying myself very much, thank you mistress" John curtly replied, "And the temperature is very pleasant Mistress, it honors me that you are concerned with the well being of a lowly creature such as I." _**Jesus Shepard, laying it on pretty thick aren't you. **_he mused, waiting to see if this type of response was what she desired.

"Well pet, you don't look it." Lilyna replied as she moved forward to touch his forehead. From the contact she could feel his bodies lack of heat, "You seem rather cold Pet, are you sure you're alright?"

"To be honest Mistress it is rather nippy in here." he subserviently replied, looking towards the blowing AC vent on the wall.

"This won't do Pet!" the false worry in her tone confirmed his previous thoughts, "Come, we need to warm you up."

Taking her offered hand Lilyna led him over to her spacious bathtub and tapped in a few commands, moments later the tub was filling up with piping hot water. Stripping, Lilyna gleefully took her human pets arm and assisted him in sitting. As her human entered the water she watched his toned body reacted to the heat as if it was being burned. Silently Lilyna wondered if she had been too cruel with the air conditioning, but those thoughts diminished when she saw his body begin to relax._**  
**_

"Is the water to your liking pet?"

"It is Mistress, thank you very much, you are too kind." _**Ok John stop it with the super submissive routine, chances are you're just pissing her off.**_

"Pet, hand me your arm, I wish to join you." _**I'm enjoying this little submissive show he's putting on, and I'm sure if I keep playing along I could get him to open up.**_

Extending his arm, John gently helped his mistress settle into the steamy waters next to him. Much to his enjoyment Lilyna moved to sit in his lap, and as the water shut off she draped his muscular arms around her in a hug. Scooting back John felt the heavenly crevice between her curvy cheeks sandwich his flaccid cock, as her hands moved his below the water to rest around her hips. But as Lilyna leaned back further John felt a sudden sharp pain shoot through his body.

Feeling and hearing her pets discomfort Lilyna rapidly spun around to face him, "Oh my Goddess pet are you alright!" _**Goddess what went wrong! everything was going according to plan! Please don't tell me I hurt him too bad.**_

"Hrrrrggg" seethed John as his face contorted in pain, "It's nothing permanent mistress, You just squished my um..."

"Your what?" Lilyna tormentingly pleaded, obviously not familiar with human anatomy just yet.

"My um... Testicles... Mistress." groaned John as he massaged his aching sack.

_**For god's sake, why am I reddening like a lobster! This exact situation has happened with dozen's of Maidens before, so why am I so concerned with putting Lily's fears at ease? It's not like this "relationship" of ours is going anywhere. She's probably only worried cause she want's to know if it will affect my performance tonight. That's right Shepard, chase away any lingering thoughts that this is anything more than just a contract.**_

"Oh my goddess!" realization dawning on Lilyna, remembering that human males reproductive organs were on the outside and not internal like Salarians or Turians. "Will you be alright!?... I mean let me go get the med kit under the sink." Standing up, John's hand caught his lithe Asari mistress and pulled her back down, settling besides him he saw her concerned filled Royal blue eyes stare into his.

"Lily, I mean mistress, calm down. These things sometimes happen. I promise you everything will be alright, besides if our species couldn't take one little hit to the family jewels, I highly doubt we would have survived this long." John cooed, lacing his voice with as much humor as possible while cupping her violet cheek. _**Contract or not ****she is really really adorable when **_**_concerned._**

"Are you sure you'll be okay? Is their anything I could do to help?" _**Okay Lilyna, it seems like you've found a chink in his armor, now you know where to press.****  
**_

"You sitting here next to me is all the help I need, give me a few minuets and I'll be back in action Mistress." John punctuated his words by slipping his large hand below the water to softly rub her back and after a few more minuets the pain subsided. Using his powerful arms Shepard lifted his petite Mistress as if she weighed nothing and replaced her on his lap. This time however, John noticed her reluctance to lean back. Stifling a chuckle he rested his chin on her shoulder. "If you think about it mistress, it is rather odd just how few species have unarmored genitalia." he cooed, hoping humor would aleve some of the tension.

_**Come on Lilyna, stop focusing on the way his muscles feel against your skin and focus on helping him. He's trying to be funny, so subtly laugh when he stops talking.**_

Seeing that his mistress was lost in thought John continued, "I mean both genders of Turian's have to have their plates shift, Salarian's from what I understand have be really in the mood before their long thin fertilization tube extends, _**Crap! got to get that mental image out of my**_** head.** Drell males are similar to Turians, they just have skin flaps instead of armored plates, Krogan are pretty much armored 24/7. And I don't even want to think about where Hanar store their genitals." seeing the last part coax a soft giggle out of his mistress John relaxed, "So in the future just try and be more mindful Mistress"

_**Keep the humor going Lilyna this is good** _"They keep them in their tentacles" Lilyna chuckled as she carefully relaxed back into her human's broad chest.

"Mistress, I really didn't want to know... Wait! does that mean ever time someone goes to shake their erm hands, were jacking it off!" John screamed into the room at this sudden revelation.

Turning around Lilyna buried her head into his chest and heartily laughed, "Why do you think Asari bow their heads pet?"

"I thought that was just something you always did! Like how humans shrug their shoulders or air quote!"

"No Pet, we started bowing after we made contact with the Hanar." Lilyna cooed while stroking a dainty hand along his chest, glad her previous faux pas hadn't ruined the evening.

Rubbing his temples in disbelief John sat silent in thought, noticing how somewhat romantic the evening had begun to feel. Minuets passed in silence while he slowly caressed her arms, enjoying the pleasant sighs she whimpered every time he did something right. Noticing all the shampoo's and body lotions lining the ledges an idea sparked in his mind, "Um mistress, would you like me to ah... to wash your back?"

_**Oh my god John why did you ask that? This isn't a honeymoon or lovers retreat, You're under contract! If she want's you to do something she'll s-a... **_His thoughts got cut off by Lilyna's impossibly soft lips pressing against his own.

"Thank you pet, that would be lovely." Lilyna seductively purred as she pulled away to retrieve a washcloth and bottle of lotion from the opposite side of the tub. Gliding through the water back to her human pet the maiden handed him the supplies and turned around. _**I may need to be more gentle in my approach to Shepard's problems.****  
**_

Emptying a decent amount of lotion into the rag, John dumbly gazed upon her flawless violet flesh and silently thanked all the divinities in the universe for gifting him with such a beautiful sight. **_Even If I am under contract there's nothing saying I can't enjoy myself. _**Feeling his organ stiffening John adverted his eyes downward, hopping to quell his racing heart, but to no avail. Through the crystal clear waters he was blessed with the most enticing view of her lower back. Gulping, his eyes became lost in the small valley created by her perfectly sculpted purple cheeks. _**God almighty I wan't to fuck her right**_**_ now!_ **Distracting himself with thoughts of Hanar tentacles, Shepard moved closer and began gently lathering Lilyna's upper body.

"Is there any particular area you wish me to avoid, or concentrate on Mistress?" John's voice slightly quivering as he watched soapy suds travel down the well defined curves of her back.

_**Aww he's so cute when he's nervous, **_"Why pet, haven't you done something like this before? surely I can't be your first Asari?"

"You are not my first Asari, Mistress... I've just never done anything this intimate before." stifling another urge to unceremoniously pounce her body, John continued to rub down her arms, "I'm more what you call a Wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am kind of guy." _**Why am I telling a person I just met all of this?! It doesn't make any sense, I want to stay silent but every time I look or touch her body it feels like a disarming calmness washes over me, like I could do no wrong. **_Now cheek to cheek with his mistress John could feel her pulsing heart beat against his skin while he kneaded soap in between their interlaced fingers, "Plainly mistress, I'm not one for tenderness or romance, its an area I greatly lack in," **_My openness_ ****_could be because I've never been in a situation like this before. I mean most people I meet that want to fuck me, just come out and fuck me. _**

"You don't seem to have a problem right now pet." Giving him a sensual kiss on his cheek, _**Good, it seems my allure ability is working like a charm, Goddess praise Sha'ira and her training villa. Give me a few more weeks and**__** a lot of luck, Shepard will be fully primed to open up. **_Feeling his stiff member tapping her inner thigh Lilyna silently chuckled,**_ Although I hope this assignment doesn't end too quickly._ **"The way you're taking care of me pet, I find it _very hard_ to believe that you're not a gentle person by nature."

"It's all an act mistress," sighed John as he moved away to place more lotion onto the cloth, "I don't like letting people get close." _**  
**_

Studying Lilies slender neck he wondered if their wasn't anything about this woman he couldn't fantasize about. Glancing at the wash cloth in his hand he gulped again, wondering why her glances and movements were turning him into putty. "Um...Mistress, would you like me to wash your... your, uh gods whats the right word? Um skin folds?" _**I must be imagining things. I probably worked up an appetite cleaning this place up and I haven't eaten anything since morning. So my body is naturally conserving energy as I have so few calories to metabolize, resulting in impaired cognitive reasoning. I'm sure when I get some food in me I'll see that whatever "this" is, it's all just in my head. **_

Lilyna giggled bemusedly at how shy John had become, "That would be lovely, just remember to be gentle, and here, use this." handing John a smaller, softer washcloth she dabs a quarter of specially formulated Asari skin lotion onto the back of her neck and lowers her head, exposing the numerous sensitive bluish purple folds. _**Don't be so nervous John, were gonna take this night nice and slow.**_

* * *

**[]E88888{]DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD**

* * *

**Shepard/ T'Soni House**

**January 1st, 2151**

**10:00pm**

Walking through the door Jack threw her bag onto the living room sofa and grabbed a cold beer from the fridge. Crashing on the couch next to her bag, the former psychotic biotic tugged at the zippers on her knee high black boots. "Shepard you home!" she yelled out into the house while reaching for the vid screen remote. Hearing no reply she took a swig from her beer and tried again, like before only silence retorted. "Is anyone here!... Blue!?" still only silence answered back. _**shit, if I knew I'd be coming home to an empty house I would've brought one of the commando's back with me. Maybe that stacked blue matron with the sexy as fuck facial marking's. **_

"Goddess Jack do you always have to be so loud?" groggily moaned Liara from the balcony, "Besides John's not here, and he won't be back for at least six months."

"What!? why!" Jack sputtered in surprise causing foamy beer to shoot from her lips, aptly coating her scantily clad tattooed body in alcohol. "Fuck me, I'll be back. Don't go anywhere blue." Already feeling the booze soak into her "outfit" Jack rushed into the kitchen and retrieved a fair amount of towels. Hurriedly walking back into the living room she began patting herself dry and cleaning up the mess.

Now leaning slightly slouched on the banister for support Liara furrowed her brows and massaged her weary eyes. "Why am I not surprised you forgot about last night,"

"I didn't forget Blue, I just thought it was a dream."

"No dream, he really signed a companion contract, and moved into professor T'Gori's house." sleepily crooned the asari. "Now If you'll excuse me, I got an early day tomorrow and I need my sleep." trudging back into her room Liara slammed the door shut.

_**Shit it sounds like blue needs to get laid bad. **_Jack mused taking another swig from her beer, _**hehe, I wonder if she likes fish.**_

* * *

**A/N: **

**I know this is a really weird place to end this chapter but I started to feel that it was dragging on and on and not much was happening. I mean here is a little over 6,700 words describing a time span of 3 or so hours. if I kept this pace up an entire week of in story content would take forever to write. you would become bored and I would become bored. Long story short it is blatantly apparent that I need to take some creative writing classes.**


	6. It ain't easy being green

**A/N: _Bold italics _indicate thought... enjoy.**

**_P.S. Don't worry this won't become a shep/kaiden romance. and I will be explaining in future chapters Why Lilyna had to use sex as therapy for John._  
**

* * *

**Colonized Mars:**

**January 2nd, 2151**

**3:36 am; est (Earth Standard Time)**

**Professor Lilyna T'Gori's house**

Laying awake under her disheveled silken bed sheets was Lilyna T'Gori, an undercover Consort (human equivalent of a therapist) who specialized in helping "unique" cases. Slumbering peacefully next to her was John T'Soni Shepard, her human contracted servant and patient. Truth be told she detested Matriarch Benezia's plan of contracted servitude to help her son. As a Consort, she knew that trust between the client and herself was paramount for real healing, and forcing someone into therapy was statistically, not effective. Normally on ethics alone she would have refused Benezia's request, but at the behest of her Mistress' and mentor Sha'iras, she took another look at Shepard's file. And although the information provided by the Matriarch was purposefully left incomplete (as per her plan), there was enough their that it was painfully apparent that without immediate help, Shepard would most likely be dead within a decade. (Either by by his own hand, or danger seeking lifestyle.) So reluctantly, Lilyna put her faith in the Matriarchs plan and four years later she on mars, in bed with her patient next to her.

But reflecting on how she wound up on mars gave no aid to her current predicament; having an extremely hot (temperature wise) Human, wrapped around her body. Both being nude and so close together, Lilyna could feel the intense heat radiating off of John's body on her skin. It was like sleeping next to a roaring furnace he was so hot. Which was why she was startled awake when John unconsciously shifted positions in the night to nestle himself against her back. Making matters worse was when he curled an arm around her waist, effectively locking her into place.

_**Is ****he always this hot?**_ The Maiden worried as she took his pulse. But his heart was calm and rhythmic, like the waves of the ocean. _**He ****doesn't feel like he's in pain or discomfort... **_Lilyna mused as she removed her hand from his wrist, then it dawned on her. _**Riiiiiight, he's a biotic. Unlike us, that trait means they usually run hotter than the average human. If I remember correctly heat production a side effect of their bodies overcharged metabolism. **_Fears laid to rest, a swell of grief settled in the Lilyna's gut as she remembered that she made him skip dinner as punishment for breaking the contracts rules. Immediately deciding to never use that style again, she relaxed and found herself facing a new dilemma; How to get back to sleep.

Of course Lilyna could always move John or wake him up, but she quickly ruled that option out as she wanted John to enjoy his blissful slumber after their sensual coital affair. A small smile spread across the Consorts purple lips as she remembered their long night of shared passion. As planned, Lilyna stayed in control, opting to take things nice and slow. (hopefully showing Shepard that sex didn't always have to be a quick romp in the sheets). And while the Consort tenderly caressed the hairs on the human arm around her, she pondered just what other options she had but to wake him._**  
**_

One idea that sprung fourth was deep breathing exercises, but after countless minutes with no noticeable effect Lilyna gave up and tried to think of something else. With options running out she thought that maybe white noise could help; Flaring her biotics the maiden reached out with her mind through the dark room to lift her Omni-tool off of the nightstand. Floating it over to the bed Lilyna plucking the glowing metal bracelet out of the air and moved it below the covers before turning it on, hoping the sheets would block out the light. Once activated Lilyna swiftly scrolled over to the devices personal settings and adjusted the orange glowing holographs brightness to the lowest possible setting.

Sadly, this was the Yahg's only contribution to the galactic community before they were quarantined, and then deemed by the council to be too extreme to be allowed to exist. And three months later the entire military might of the hierarchy was mobilized and brought to bare upon Parnack, the Yahgs home world. For weeks a fleet of 30,000 warships, 1,500 of those being dreadnoughts, rained death and destruction from orbit. The heat from the continuous planet wide bombardment raised surface temperatures enough to boil away oceans and turn sand to glass, killing every living thing on the once luscious garden world. Decades later after the dust finally settled the cratered planet was revealed to have been transformed into an elegant shimmering surface of rainbow colored glass. It was ironic that such beauty was created by such unimaginable destruction. It was also... depressing... to say the least, as the Asari were the only race to argued for the Yahg's survival.

Pushing that miserably heartbreaking memory as far from her mind as possible, Lilyna scrolled down the same options menu until coming across the audio level and set it to minimum. Taking the barely illuminated hologram out from under the covers Lilyna tuned into a static channel and placed the device under her pillow, allowing the white noise fill the recesses of her mind. Almost instantly she could feel it starting to work as her eyelids became heavy with sleep. Giving in to her bodies wishes Lilyna Closed her eyes, starting to drift off, she recalled the first time Sha'ira brought her to the Temple of Athame to talk to Benezia via QEC.

* * *

**_Commence 1990's T.V. dream/ flashback sequence and play that god awful harp music !_**

* * *

"Greeting Matriarch," Lilyna respectfully said, bowing her head to the hologram created by the communications terminal, "The word around Illium was that your transport was destroyed by Batarian slavers... I must say, you're looking very healthy for a corpse."

"Acolyte, behave yourself!" snapped Sha'ira from the humming pad infront of her, "Matriarch I wish to apologize for my students insolence.." the consort wished to apologize further but is silenced by Benezia's raised hand

"It's quite alright Sha'ira, I've raised a daughter and a son, so I'm fully familiar with the arrogance youth can bring." Smiling she added, "In fact, I've recently grown quite fond of it."

Stepping closer to the console Lilyna placed her hands on the metal guard rail surrounding, what she guessed, was the alien devices transmission pad. "You're signal must be breaking up Matriarch, because it sounded like you said Son, as in male, that is unless you meant to say sun as in star... in which case I hope you have a speedy recovery, as I can't even fathom the pain from birthing a child, much less pushing a celestial body out of my womb."

Groaning Sha'ira rubbed her temples and mouthed pleas to the goddess for deliverance. Benezia on the other just kept looking at her with an eerie emotionless stare. "I've said I've grown fond of it, not fallen head over heels in love with it. So acolyte... tone it down. And I did say Son, which is why Sha'ira has brought you before me, as she claims that you are the only person that can help. However before I can explain further I need to know your level of commitment."

"Commitment to what?" Lilyna nervously asks

"To helping others in need Acolyte," Sha'ira soothingly replies, her honey voice quickly having the desired effect of calming the acolytes nerves. "Lilyna, do you still remember the message I gave you all those decades ago?"

Lowering her head and closing her eyes Lilyna tried to recall the "gift of words" the Consort gave to her over eighty years ago when she first became one of her Acolytes. Finding the memory and raising her head she smile's,

_"__Into darkness you will voyage, scavenging across the sounds of silence to plant seeds of love, life, and light in the hearts of those in need. Yet although your gentle soul brings _joy to others, you cannot bring it to yourself. For that you must find another adrift in darkness and turn him back towards the light. But beware, although your fires burn brightest when close, they are not meant to be one, if they do, the flames will consume you both, casting those around you into the wells of darkness once more."

"I remember them well Mistress, it's the whole reason I became an acolyte, to help others in need." Letting the full message sink in Lilyna looks to her mistress for guidance, "So your saying that this son of the Matriarchs is the one described?"

"They may, or they may not be. Nothing is every written in stone Lilyna, the futures always changing."

"Which is why I need to know how committed you are Acolyte." Benezia interjected, stopping Sha'ira from continuing.

* * *

_**End Dream Sequence**_

* * *

"uuuughhhh..." Lightly moaned Shepard, pulling her back from sleeps embrace, his warm breath hitting the nape of her neck in all the right ways. Ignoring the tingling sensations running down her spine Lilyna tried to focus back on the noise of the Omni-tool under her pillow.

"...mmmmughhh" Unconsciously mewled Shepard again. This time however Lilyna felt a very familiar appendage of his start to grow bigger and poke her inner thigh. _**He must be having a good**** dream**_ Lilyna silently mused as she felt his body shift positions again, allowing her just enough room to squeeze out of his grip. But when she tried moving away, John only gripped her tighter and pressed himself firmer against her back. _**Okay... Maybe not a dream.**_

Moaning again, Shepard's head arched forward for his nose to gently press into her erogenous scalp folds. The pleasurable sensations were so intense that Lilyna had to bite her lower lip to stop herself from lewdly gasping her approval. Even though John had barely touched her, his intense heat combined with his near perfect ministrations were already causing her petals to become moist with desire.

Without warning the arm that was draped across her belly shot vertically past her chest for his hand to painfully grasp onto her left shoulder. At the same time his other arm snaked under the pillow, knocking her Omni-tool away, and griped her abdomen tightly. Completing his fluid motion John pulled her body tighter against his own. To Lilyna it felt as if Shepard was hanging on for dear life, like if he let her go he'd start plummet to his death. All the while she could feel his mast reaching full sail and eagerly prod her body. On her back she could feel his heart pounding through his chest as his breathing became short and labored against her neck.

"...pl...e..a..se." He mewled again in his trance like state, sounding a wounded animal. Below the covers Shepard's hips slightly bucked back and fourth.

"...ple...ase" John unconsciously cried again. This time his arms were joining in on the action, painfully pulling her body down in rhythm with his thrusts, his nails clenched so tight that they punctured her flesh, drawing droplets of purple blood.

Forcing herself to think through the searing pain racing through her Lilyna felt a cold wetness trickle down her neck. **_Goddess is he crying?_ **she thought while trying to figure out what to do, from behind she heard a continuous grunt of painfully needy pleases. Gritting through the pain she called his name attempting to see if he was awake.

"Y...es... Kai..dan..." the sleeping human nervously crooned, his body still churning in tempo.

The answer shocked Lilyna. She tried to think about what could have caused Shepard to be remembering a former student at a time like this, and then it clicked. Their talk in the tub... It must have trigger him into thinking about passed relationships... But why was he having night terrors?, Was this the only memory John hallucinated about, or were there others?, But more importantly how long had this been going on unnoticed?, And was it only limited to night terrors or did his body do other things while unconscious? Lilyna desperately wanted to get to the bottom of this conundrum, but she knew that answers would have to wait. For now she was too preoccupied with how to solve her current situation.

Yet before Lilyna could decide, the choice was made for her. With another thrust, John's pulsating cock head found its mark and penetrated her azure, thankfully his musings beforehand had slightly prepared her entrance. Now there was nothing left to do but try and make herself comfortable and let him finish his dream. From experience the Consort knew that she should never wake a person in this state unless their life was in danger. As the shock to a persons system was bad enough when their brain tried comprehending why their body wasn't in the same place as before. But it's exponentially worse when said body is doing something the person would never do in a thousand years. So opening her legs slightly to give him better access, Lilyna tried talking to him again.

"You're hurting me John."

"...sor...ry...kai..dan." he panted into her neck as his body loosened its death grip, "...be..tt...er?" John crooned as he slowly sunk another three inches of his thick length into her.

"Much" Lilyna gasped as she felt his finger nails retract from her punctured flesh, and as if a levee had given away, the five small crescent shaped divots in her shoulder began trickling a semi steady stream of purple blood. Not wanting to bleed over her one and only bedspread, Lilyna delicately moved his still grasping fingers to cover the holes as best as she could. Thankfully his hand was still applying decent amounts of pressure so there was a good chance that he would stop the bleeding. In all honesty Lilyna knew she had been very lucky as to where Johns nails had penetrated, there was no doubt in her mind that if his hand had been a few inches over to the right, the night would have ended in a trip to the emergency room... or the morgue.

"...lo...ve...y..ou...so...mu..ch..." John drowsily crooned again. Slightly pulling out the human pulled her hips closer to his and plunged an additional four inches into Lilyna's now dripping sex. With his grip loosening the pain coursing through her body was beginning to be replaced by unwanted pleasure, as his body pushed all her right buttons. With every additional thrust Lilyna could feel her orgasm grow, yearning to be released. Her body getting racked by a combination of Shepard's slow even strokes, marauding nose, and furnace like heat. And as he increased the depths of his thrusts, Lilyna had to bite her finger to keep herself from moaning in ecstasy. "wh..y..did...you..lea..ve..me...Kai...dan?"

"...pl...ea...se" John crooned again into her neck as his hips finally connected with hers. Instead of pulling out and thrusting back in, Shepard stayed put. Doing so Lilyna could feel how much of a man the human really was. She could feel his almost molten hot shaft filling her, stretching her to her limit, its engorged veins blazing a trail of fire through her nerves as they pulsed with every beat of his powerful heart. "...Pl..ea..se.." he panted again, unsheathing himself fully only to plunge back in. "pl...ea..se.." again he murmured as his hips picked up speed, his powerful arms aiding his thrusts. Lilyna didn't think it was possible but he was actually getting hotter, it felt as if she was being made love to by the sun, it was incredible.

Lilyna was already losing herself when he started, but now, now she was gone. Lost in his energy, feeling her whole body shake with building desire. her human pumping her hard, every once of heat pouring into her, through her. It was as if she was a live electrical wire and he was the power station. As John increased his pace yet again she couldn't take it anymore, unable to speak she mouthed "_embrace eternity"_

In a flash the Consort had broken the most sacred Asari rule, never under any circumstance meld with an unconscious person. In Asari law it was tantamount to rape as the meldee had no say in the matter. She known she had already broken many taboo's about altering a persons mind, but those were necessary evils that were solely in her patients best interests. Do psychiatric hospitals not mandate their patients take their meds? Do parents not have the right to commit their children to mental health institutions if they try to kill themselves? Do courts not issue orders for mentally imbalanced people to take their pills so they can be released upon their recognizance? So too was Lilyna's first and second offense against Shepard, she wormed her way into his mind & planted the suggestion of the contract because it was deemed necessary for him to seek treatment. And so too was her second offense when she erased his short term memory of the episode she purposefully caused so she could see first hand how deep she would have to go to repair the damage.

But this third offense, this third offense was shamefully for pure enjoyment, she couldn't feel anything but bliss now. With their synapses linked she could feel everything John felt as he unconsciously fucked her for all he was worth. With every powerful thrust she could feel her walls expand to fit him and at the same time she felt her maddeningly tight Azures vice like grip his member as she thrusted deep into herself. "Pl..ea..se.." he moaned again into her neck. Through the meld she could feel the blazing heat of his body even more, it was consuming her.

It didn't take long for her release to come, and when it did it was hard and fast. Lilyna mewled and bucked her hips against his, desperately trying to take him in deeper as she breathlessly panted out his name like a common Omegan whore. Through the meld she could feel her essence drip onto his still hard pumping beast, the mere feedback of the enjoyment she was getting from herself was enough to push her over the edge again. But still Shepard kept pumping her writhing body like a machine. She flooded his mind with feelings of love, safety, warmth, kindness, everything good she had ever done or experienced she poured into him.

"...Kai..dan.." he panted what she could only assume was his former lovers name as he came inside her. Like her John's release was an explosions, and as he shot thick robes of blazing hot cum inside her womb Lilyna withdrew the meld, repairing any damage she may have caused along the way. For what seemed like an eternity the pair laid connected to one another panting in silence. Every pulse of his shaft sent vibrations to her core as more and more of John's essence pooled inside her.

"pl..ea..se...don't...le..ave..me" Breathed John heart brokenly into her folds. As much as she wanted for those words to be directed towards her, Lilyna knew better, and almost as fast as it had started it was over. Releasing his grip on Lilyna's body John rolled off of her and back to his side of the bed as if nothing had happened. Instantly Lilyna missed the warmth of his body as the rooms cold air assaulted her most likely bruised and bloody skin.

With that thought in mind Lilyna got out of bed and went to the bathroom as fast and as quiet as possible. Grabbing the med kit and a wash cloth, she used the mirrors reflection to clean and dress her shoulder and hip wounds. As predicted there was a decent sized dark purple hand shaped bruise on her back, along with a fair amount of dried blood. After applying a few dabs of medi-gel to each of the puncture marks Lilyna attached a white gauze bandage to her shoulder and threw on one of the white robes hanging on the shower door. Returning to the bed with a pan of warm water and a sponge, she skillfully cleaned the blood off of Johns hands and torso. Thankfully it seemed that none of her purple had mixed with the silver of the bedspread. The only remaining evidence of their midnight affair was a large wet spot where their mutual fluids had spilled. To exhausted to care Lilyna set the alarm and crawled into bed, and as soon as her head hit the pillow she was out.

* * *

**_If you wanna know an alternate way I ended the previous scene just pm me_**

* * *

**7:00am EST**

**Professor T'Gori's house**

**_Buzzing... It's always fucking buzzing, _**groaned Shepard as the alarm clocks annoying drone grew progressively louder. Sprawling out his limbs on the mattress like a cat, the human felt his joints pop and crack. Finishing his daily wake up ritual, John planted his feet and hands on the mattress and with the skill of a limber contortionist, arched his back.

"Tell me John, how did you get so limber?" His mistress asked from somewhere the parabolic bending male couldn't see, a smile spread to his face remembering she agreed to stop calling him Pet, if he agreed to take the rules more seriously. "I'm actually quiet envious."

Inhaling deeply John felt his diaphragm stretch, sending pleasant tingles down his body. "Ughhhh...Good diet, plenty of exercise." Letting gravity assist him, Johns hands and feet slowly slid outward, bringing his nude body back to lye flat on the comfy disheveled mattress. Barrel rolling a few times to the side he turned off the buzzing alarm, bringing silence to the room once more, "And having lots and lots of commandos chase after you."

keeping her wounded shoulder out of his sight line, Lilyna tossed him a robe and sat next to him. "What do you mean having lots of commandos chase after you?" beginning to brush her teeth she mumbled, "di ya do somfin to pish em off?"

Tilting his chin to the sky John shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes, "Probably has something to do with me playing hide and seek with em when I was little. As I got older, and my abilities got better the stakes progressed, until the so called game started resembling actual combat training. I mean they started teaching me CQB tactics, evasive running, and combat shooting." Putting on the robe he chuckled, "Pissed the hell out of Nezzy when she got back from Thessia, something about not wanting her son growing up to be a soldier. But in the long run those skills have come in very useful in dealing with stalkers or problem students."

"And what do you want?" Lilyna asked, taking the toothbrush out of her mouth.

"Honestly, I don't know... But the more and more I read about galactic cultures, the more I think that I wanna go on a pilgrimage like the Quarians. Not to enrich humanity or anything, but rather see all the cool things this galaxy has to offer. I've actually created a sorta of a bucket list." seeing her confusion over the term John explained, "a bucket list is a list of all the things you wan't to do before you kick the bucket."

"Okay..." Lylina said still confused "Still not getting what a physical contact with a metal pail has to do with a list?"

"Sorry, it's a human expression that means 'things to do before we die'."

"hmm, odd expression." she said while laying down on the bed next to him, "So what's all on this list?"

"Hmmm let's see," John purred while kissing her cheek, not knowing why he felt like doing that. "Ride on an Elcor's back for starters, seeing a Volus dressed in a tuxedo, using Hanar as blimps to float around the Citadel , having a staring contest with a Batarian, breaking Omega's one rule, visiting Tuchanka and drinking with the clan leaders, visit the Citadel to find out just where the fuck those keepers come from and where they go, sword fight with a Turian. And that's not a euphemism or anything," John said as headed into the bathroom to brush his teeth, "I've read that they're the only other species that still practices the bladed martial art, visit the Justicar monasteries on Thessia, oh and see an unsuited Quarian." Turning on the faucet he globs some toothpaste onto the bristles, "Or maybe I should just spend my entire fortune building the fastest ship in the galaxy and seeing where the solar winds take me." spitting John went to the walk in closet and started getting dressed, glad that he unpacked the night before.

"That all sounds rather dangerous John, aren't you worried about getting hurt or killed?" **_Especially if he's going to try and sleep with the Pirate Queen of Omega, that bitch would eat him alive, or_ _worse._**

Smiling and buckling his belt he stuck his head out of the closet, "It's not the danger Mistress, that's the fun. Being close to death... It just makes you feel so alive." Feeling his stomach grumbling, "But all that will have to wait, right now, I'm hankering for some food."

Smiling Lilyna put her toothbrush away and closed the front of her robe "Then come on John, why don't we talk downstairs while we find something to eat."

"By the way Mistress, I've been meaning to ask you about that," he said while fallowing her down the stairs and into the kitchen, narrowly avoiding stubbing his foot on Tank's shell. "Would you like me to cook for you? Cause if so, do you mind if I do the grocery shopping as I make all my recopies from scratch."

**_Well this is quite a turn around since his little explosion in his office,_** "My John, are you trying to impress me?" moving to wrap her arms around his chest she adds,"Or are you just playing with me? Trying to see how I'll reward you."

"I'm very good at adapting Mistress." _**It's how I survived t'll I met Nezzy, but I can't tell her** **that.**_"Besides, take out is fine for once in a while, but it's hardly the best choice to keep your body fueled for working with students." John said as he returned her hug.

"What kind of food can you cook?" Lilyna's interest obviously peaked at the thought of eating something not wrapped in wax paper. Releasing him she headed over to a paper bag on the granite kitchen counter top and pulled out a stack of takeout menus. "I can't believe you species still uses paper as a form of data storage."

Ignoring the paper comment, John runs through the list of Italian, American, Japanese, German, and French dishes he could make given appropriate notice. Rounding off his list were a few Asari/Human blends his species had concocted and the Asari dishes his mother and sister had taught him. But by her widening smile John new shew could't wait to try out his desserts. "Well then... I guess I need to go shopping... and maybe pick up a few things I forgot to bring with me from home." _**please don't ask, please don't ask, please don't ask.**_

"Like what?"

_**Shit.**_ "Um my glasses, medication, and lesson plans." _**Seriously! please don't ask, please don't ask, please don't ask.**_

_**Well this is new **_The Asari mused as she placed an order for her and John on her Omni, "I didn't know you wear glasses and took medication John. You don't have anything serious right?"

_**Fuck,**_ "Naw, nothing serious. It's just some biotic supplements we humans take," Shepard warmly lied, **_If you consider ingesting 100mg tablets of medically formulated eezo to refill the empty nodes in my cloned organs, nothing serious... That reminds me, I got to send Cerberus a little thank you gift for that little nightmare... Shit! stop thinking, stop thinking, stop thinking, _**John mentally screamed at himself as he felt his consciousness begin gnawing away at the remains of his mothers mental barriers. "And the glasses are for my minor astigmatism. One of the only thing my birth parents gave me." _**Yes John, lets go with astigmatism. Ripping out your own eyeballs and eating them because a malfunctioning Cerberus neural implant induced psychosis, isn't really polite breakfast conversation. But hey, at least the doc's were nice enough to pump your stomach and clone you a new pair... Shit, there's that fucking gnawing feeling again.**_

"Well I'm sure we can find some time after shopping, I hope you don't mind John but I ordered something for you. It should be here in about thirty minutes or its free. Goddess I love that rule."

"So what are we gonna do for half an hour Mistress?" John seductively cooed as he slinked his way over to his lovely violet Asari. Looking for any distraction to fill his mind.

"Hmmm, wouldn't you like to know."

* * *

**=============={[**_**Double bladed Lightsaber for fun**_**]}===============**_**  
**_

* * *

**January** **2nd, 2151**

**Shepard/T'Soni Estate **

**7:00am**

"hmmhmmmhmm, Goddess that was the best sleep I've had in ages." Liara cooed as as stroked Jacks flat tattooed belly.

"No shit blue, you were an animal last night," Jack winked as she pulled her bed partner into a fierce kiss, "ahhh, I can't wait to do this again. maybe next time you'll let me bring in some toys."

Blushing deep purple Liara pushed Jack off her and looked the human in the eyes. "I'm sorry Jack, while this was fun... It can never happen again."

"Why's that blue? You worried about that Boy Scout brother of your's finding out?" Jack cooed as she draped her head down to capture one of Liara's perky nipples in her mouth. Rolling the dark blue flesh between her tongue and teeth she easily worked the sensitive bud into an aroused state.

"_Ahhhh!" _Liara cried as Jack bit down, drawing lewd moans from her sex deprived body. "_Yesssss!..._I mean can never find out."

"He won't Blue, I Promise, I know how to be discrete." Jack moaned into her decent bust as her hand worked its way down and into her Azure. Curling her fingers inside Liara's sex, the tattooed former convict drew more lewd pant's and sensual moans from the blue body writhing beneath her. Bringing her lips back up to Liara's Jack wormed her warm tongue inside of her mouth and silenced T'Soni's protests. Pulling away a thin trickle of saliva dripped from her dexterous organ. "Besides, I don't think he would mind" Casting a wicked eye to the blue body below her, she hummed, "Now, lets see how many times I can make you cum before the alarm goes off."

"But!..._Ahhh!_." Liara crooned as she felt Jacks face move below the sheets. The Asari driven to silence as Jack's hard pumping fingers were replaced with her nimble tongue.

* * *

**00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 **

* * *

**STG Secret Listening Outpost "Watchtower"**

**5,000 Lightyears from Sur'Kesh**

**(100 Light years from Sol)**

**January 2nd, 2151**

"Interesting. Very interesting. Primitive species classified as Humans re-focusing fleet deployments around local systems designated Tau Ceti, and Arcturus Stream. Problematic. Species fleet deployments can only indicate discovery of relay or resource rich system. Hmm must factor in possibility of new colony. If so modified Genophage deployment will be problematic." Doctor Maelon Heplorn quietly mumbled into his consoles haptic control surfaces while his three digit hands worked at a blistering pace below to factor in new data.

With a deafening blare the stations warning klaxons spurred to life as numerous explosions rocketed the stations kinetic barriers. Through the PA a nervous Salarian rapidly spoke. "Alert! numerous boarding craft inbound, repeat numerous boarding craft inbound. All stations this is a level one security lock.._BANG! BANG!..._zzzZZzzzzzZZzzzzz." Moment's later the station was rocketed again by weapons fire from numerous small vessels that seemed to come out of nowhere.

When Maelon went to reach for his side arm he felt a cold muzzle pressed against his temple. "No, No, No, you slimy frog." A gruff and gravely accented human male voice spoke from behind. "Wouldn't wan't you getting any ideas mate."

Raising his hands Maelon's relatively short life flashed before his large eyes. "Please... Don't shoot me." he blubbered, pleading the human for his life. From the little information his species had collected on them, he knew that they were a violent culture, almost as much as the Batarians or Krogan.

"Christ Mate! Quite your whining, we ain't here to kill you. But Alliance High Command does have some questions fer ya." Lt Massani said as he delivered a hard knockout smack with his pistol to the back of the lizards head. Raising his Glowing Omni to his hand he called out, "All Squads report!"

"Bridge Clear!,"

"Comm room Clear!"

"Engineering Clear!"

"Med bay Clear!"

"Life support Clear!"

"Primary fire control Clear!"

"_Blamm!_..._ Blamm!..._'stop shooting human we surrender! We surrender!'... Secondary Fire control Clear!"

Grinning like an idiot at the ease in which his squad of N7's and Asari Commandos infiltrated the STG listening outpost, Massani toggled his tools channel to open. "All ships this is N7 Lieutenant Zaeed Massani with the Systems Alliance; the station is ours so stop fucking shooting."

"Copy that Lt, telling the fleet to de-cloak and hold position. Any casualties?"

"Negative Anderson, those fucking life signs maskers the eggheads at Ayakashi-Goto cooked up worked like a god damn charm. Slippery bastards didn't even know we were already aboard till it was too late." Hefting the unconscious lizard over his shoulder, Zaeed continued, "So Commander? where would the Alliance like us to drop off this floating phone booth?"

Chuckling at his Lt's brash nature Anderson toggled the comm button from the Normandy's helm. "Lt, you are to hold position till Rear Admiral Williams 1st fleet arrives to escort us back to Mars, till then were on babysitting duty. From the communications we hacked Sur'kesh has no active comm's with this station, so their only source of info is every three years when the duty roster changes. so don't worry about any unwanted party crashers." Sighing Commander Anderson rubbed his saved head, contemplating how lucky they were to discover this outpost before too much information could have made it's way back to the Citadel.

"Roger that Commander, we'll sit tight." Switching back channels Zaeed ordered his squad to disable any arms they found and escort their prisoners to the cargo hold. Carrying the amphibian fireman style, the former SAS Gunnery Sargent walked to the cargo bay to be greeted by the warm giddy smiles of his 15 "man" N7 squad. He used the term man loosely as he had several well endowed Asari commando's within his ranks as well.

Looking over at the twenty seven wide eyed Salarians, he noticed that they stared at his men as if they were suddenly going to eat them alive. But before he could say anything, several shuttles full of Marines from the stealth retrofitted Normandy, Omaha, an Sword entered the large hangar bay; dropping off their thirty man tech and detention detail.

Swinging his eyes back over to the cowering amphibians Zaeed felt obligated to relieve their fears a little, "Well my little Kermit's I got some good news and some bad news." Said the Lt, drawing hardy laughs from the humans and confused looks from the Asari and Salarians, "Turns out it ain't easy being green. Don't worry, none of you will be harmed, tortured, or killed. In fact you will all be well taken care of until such time as a deal can be brokered by Alliance high Command, and whatever ruling government your people abide by... That's the good news. The bad news is that T'll such time you will be coming back with us to live out the remainder of your lives on Mars, as enemy combatants."

"So your not going to kill us?" spoke up a skittery orange freckled salarian.

"Of course were not gonna kill you!" Belted Zaeed as he lowered the frog on his shoulder to the floor, "Despite what you people may think, were not monsters." seeing a wave of calm and relaxation wash over the prisoners Zaeed chuckled darkly, "However, as a species we don't like our galactic neighbors spying on us..." shooting a wicked glance at the waking up Salarian below him. "Or fucking talking about clipping our nuts off!"

* * *

**Systems Alliance Parliament building, London (closed session)**

**5 hours after assault**

**January 2nd 2151**

Sitting in her chair next to Prime Minister Mason and the rest of the Military's chiefs of staff, Matriarch Benezia watched replay footage from helmet cams of the N7 operation play out. In short, the textbook assault lasted all of ten minutes, with the Alliance suffering zero casualties and inflicting minimal damage to the STG space station, or personnel. In truth it was somewhat frightening and exhilarating to watch the human/Asari squad make quick work of the bases defenses. As this was humanities first military contact with another race, fears were rightly high that the mission would end in disaster. But thankfully the prototype stealth systems developed by Ayakashi-Goto worked without fail. Now all that was left was to pick up the pieces and guide her favorite race into doing the right thing.

"Well Matriarch." Prime Minister Mason started, "I trust the results from this joint operation should alleviates some of your fellow Asari's fears."

"Without a doubt Prime Minister" the matriarch replied while getting herself a glass of water, "I just wonder what you intend to do now? I highly doubt charging the captured agents with espionage and executing them will send the right message to the Salarian Union."

"Why not?" Chimed in Russian Admiral Oleg Petrovsky from the corner, "That's what they are, enemy agents caught in an unprovoked act of espionage against the Systems Alliance. I highly doubt the Hierarchy would be any less lenient against any human personnel caught spying on Palaven. Not to mention the STG is no doubt now aware of the Asari's involvement with Humanity. A clear message must be sent that any provocation will be met with resistance."

"By killing the twenty eight crew members you will be only confirming their suspicions about your species Admiral," Benezia coldly retorted, "By doing so you will only drive the salarians into the waiting arms of the Turian's. Which, let me remind you, has a fleet size that vastly outnumbers your own in terms of sheer numbers and skill. Your Carriers are untested against Dreadnoughts, which by the way you have yet to bring operational, your stealth systems are still in the prototype phase at best, and this engagement was the first time your highly prized Destroyers actually did more than mindlessly patrol the space around Sol." Benezia knew she was being harsh but she was saying what needed to be said. "Furthermore this operation was against a lone, lightly manned outpost. Hardly a strategic target worthy of such boasting."

Chuckling at the ease in which his Admirals sails had so easily been deflated, Fleet Admiral Benjamin Davis spoke up, "Like it or not Gentlemen the Matriarch is right." his slick southern drawl pierced the thick cloud of defeat Benezia had caste upon the room, "Right now our fleets are too busy getting the Arcturus relay operational and establishing colony outposts on Benning and the two unnamed garden worlds in the Tau Ceti system." Turning to the Prime minister he saw a slight smile creep out from the Matriarchs cold blue lips. "Right now we need to focus on building our colonies and expanding our fleets, not jumping into a war which we are so ill prepared to fight."

Pondering his admirals words Mason turned to Cpt Hackett "What about your N7's? Surely they could provide us the edge in any conflict."

Standing up Hackett looked to the rest of the room, in the politicians eyes he saw the glimmer of desperation, "Hate to burst your bubble Prime Minister, but I agree with Matriarch Benezia's and Fleet Admirals Davis's astute assessment. I have complete faith that my N7's will blaze a path of destruction for others to fallow, but they are only soldiers. And even the greenest recruit knows that in war, controlling the high ground is key. So if or when war comes, the deciding battles will be fought in orbit and deep space."

"Fine, I know when I'm beat, i'll stay the execution orders." Mason groaned to Petrovsky, who had an equally defeated look. Deciding to change topic Mason continued "So what should we do with the station? Won't the Salarians notice somethings amiss when a new crew rotates in?"

"We've thought of a contingent for that Prime Minister" Davis spoke up "If you'll allow me, Id like to call in my associate Franklin Jarvis, Director of the Office of Naval Intelligence." Seeing the Prime Minister nod Davis keyed his omni tool and moments later a squirrely twig of a short man in glasses walked through the door, data pad in hand.

"Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce to you the head of ONI, Franklin Jarvis. His department is the whole reason we knew about the STG's Listening post in the first place." said the Fleet Admiral as he clasped the scrawny individual on the back.

"Greetings." Jarvis said, his voice just as shifty as his posture. "What we know is that the Salarian's have no means of long range real time communication with the station, as such the STG has to wait six years before information can be returned to Sur'Kesh for analyzing." Pushing his glasses up with his palm he continued, "Records indicate that the last shift change was one year ago, meaning we have an eight year window to build our fleets and expand our colonies before Sur'kesh knows that the station has been compromised." Seeing the politicians confusion over the math Jarvis sighed and explained, "It would take two years for the old crew to get back, three years for the replacement crew to arrive at the station, and an additional three years for the current detained crew to make the return journey, 3+3+2= 8. But I could draw it in crayon for you if you'd like."

Stifling an amused giggle Benezia motioned for him to continue before the man could be berated by the rooms inhabitants. "So what should we do with the station Director Jarvis?"

Pulling up his data pad the shifty spook monotonously recited the stations schematics, "As the stations circumference is 150 meters round and 50 meters high, it is too large for us to land planet side, and as it is packed full with over 35 billion credits worth of state of the art surveillance equipment it is too expensive to destroy. This leaves us with either dismantling it for resources, or re-purposing it."

"The spooks over at ONI and admiralty board agree Prime Minister, that this station shouldn't be dismantled." Fleet Admiral Davis spoke up, cutting Jarvis off. "Which is why were putting plans fourth to integrate the station as the communications hub for any naval space station we might plan on constructing. As it sits now however, Rear Admiral Williams fleet will tow it to mars to be studied and retrofitted for future use. And as for the replacement ships from Sur'kesh, a boarding fleet will intercept them and guide them to Mars as well."

"Well it seems like you have your ducks in a row Gentlemen" Mason chuckled, "Now that that matters closed. Matriarch Benezia. How are the Republics taking our request for increased Immigration?"

"Very well Prime minister. They have agreed to increase immigration by 45,000 personnel over the next five years. In exchange however, they want the mineral rights to several of the eezo rich planetoids in Tau Ceti Along with colonization rights to one of the systems garden worlds. Unfortunately immigration is dependent upon the Alliance agreeing to these terms, as my people will need concrete evidence to sell our intended fabrication to the rest of the galaxy."

"And which fabrication would that be Matriarch?" Admiral Petrovsky grumbled

"That the Republics intend to establish a colony in this sector to act like Illium's trade hub, before other parties can lay claim. As the rest of the Galaxy knows, Asari tend to have a long outlook. Our long life makes it fine for us to wait decades or even centuries before any of our investments pay off, so staking out a watering hole in the dessert wouldn't seem that unusual to the other races while we wait for a relay to be activated." Benezia said as she refilled her glass of water. "That being said we did have to exert some pressure of the Salarian union for them to keep quiet."

"And you trust them to keep their word?" Prime Minister mason questioned, "What's stopping them from running to the Turian's and disclosing our existence?"

Smiling Benezia warmly replied, "In the interest of plausible deniability Prime Minister, I strongly suggest you believe me when I say, It's taken care of."

"Fine, I'm kinda thinking I wouldn't like what you were gonna say anyways." Mason said as he called the meeting to an end, "I'll work with Parliament to see if we can't expedite a claims decision on Tau Ceti. Good day gentlemen." Standing up the Prime Minister was met with crisp salutes from the military figures and a courteous bow from Benezia as he left the room.

* * *

**Athame University: Mars**

**January 2nd 2151 3:00pm EST**

**Professor**** Shepard's classroom **

"Come in, come in, welcome, good afternoon" John greeted his Tuesday/Thursday afternoon Biotics Mastery 101 class as they walked through the door to take their seats. Unlike his Monday- Friday 10:00am-12:00am morning class, his Tuesday/Thursday lectures lasted from 3:00pm to 8:00pm, because whatever sick bastard created the course obviously had no clue as to how biotics actually worked. And as the final student shuffled into her seat John began his usual introductory spiel.

"Hello ladies and gentlemen, I'm Professor Johnathon Shepard and welcome to Biotic Mastery 101. If you're enrolled in this course it hopefully means that you all have at some point displayed some form of dark energy manipulation. If you think you're in the wrong class or got lost, now is the time to speak up." seeing no one move Shepard continued, "Good, then it seems like you're all where your suppose to be, first I'll call roll and hand out the syllabus." five or ten minutes later, everyone was marked off and had a syllabus in front of them.

"Now as this is a Five hour class you will be given two twenty minute breaks to rest, get food, or do whatever you want. All that I ask is that you return back to class when the break period is over. Other than being a stickler for tardiness, you'll find that as long as you fallow my classroom's rules and perform to the best of your abilities, I will be your best friend. However, if you flippantly disregard my lessons, fail to show respect to me or your fellow classmates, ditch class, and blatantly have an I don't give a shit attitude. Then I will become your worst nightmare." Seeing all but a few students look nervous John instantly knew who the problem people were going to be.

"Moving onto the rules." Going into his desk John pulled out a softball sized metal ball, a canteen filled with liquid, and placed them on his desk. Picking up the Canteen he began, "Rule number one! At all times you will keep one of these canteens close by and filled with the Alliance designated high caloric energy drink. Also at least one half hour before every Biotics class begins I wan't you to have drunk one canteens worth, the same goes for after class. Thirty minutes before and after attempting a biotic workout you will consume one canteen's worth as well..."

"But what about all the calories?" said a brunet haired girl with a faint German accent from the center of the room. "I don't wanna get fat."

Sighing John knew that female students would be the death of him, "Believe me, you're not gonna get fat. Although the drinks contain about 20,000 calories per canteen, your biotics will burn around 1,500-2,000 calories for every ten minutes of continuous use." waiving his hand in the air to stop anyone from asking questions John continued, "In fact being a biotic you may find yourself actually having trouble keeping the weight on. And I hate to say it ladies, but your probably gonna loose some of your assets to increased metabolism." Hearing a chorus of groans from the women and snickers from the men he added, "But look at the bright side, you get to eat whatever you wan't whenever you wan't. Why do you all think the food bill for this colony is so damn high?"

"Moving on," Picking up the metal sphere John held it above his head for everyone to see. "This device right here has a super complex scientific name that is hard to pronounce, so I just call it newton. As it measures fluctuations in the mass effect fields that you create and converts their strength into something measurable like Newtons. This is rule number two, I don't wan't any of you trying to biotically lift, throw, warp, or push anything other than one of these metal spheres. The reason being is that when you check one of these newtons spheres out, a link is created between the device and a terminal in my office, this is how I will know how often you've been practicing and how your capabilities are advancing. So please by the end of the week go pick one up from the office. And don't worry if you're having trouble moving it, the sensors inside are calibrated to pick up even the faintest levels of dark energy, I will be the one to tell you if you are falling behind."

After going over an additional five rules on safety, headaches, and a myriad of other important details John looked at the Chrono and noticed that he had been talking for over an hour. Looking at his students tired faces he knew that they needed a break, "Ok, I'll make you guys a deal, since it is really important that you have your supplies I'm going to give you all an extended break, use the time wisely and meet me back here at 5:15pm." Not seconds later most of the room shuffled outside. Feeling exhausted John collapsed onto his desk and took a deep swig from the canteen.

One hour and twenty minutes later the class retook their seats and Shepard began the second part of his lesson plan; finding out how strong everyone was. And for the next two hours and forty five minutes he ran through drills with the spheres meant to highlight biotic ability. Overall most of the class was right where they were supposed to be, except for five students who obviously had a firmer grasp on their power. For now John was comfortable with letting them slack off as they had already demonstrated a mastery of the lesson he was teaching. Silently John hoped that their attitude was caused by boredom and not angst, but he guessed he would soon find out as semester progressed.

* * *

**A/N So... what you guys think? a little bit of world building, a little bit of smut, and a little bit more info about Shepard's past. I'm still trying to work out the correct balance and everything, so be patient. Rome wasn't built in a day, and this is my first attempt at writing something at length.**


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